Homemade Granola - Food Revolution Day

I will be talking about revolutions today. When anyone talks about revolutions these days, you think about the 'Arab Spring', or the year of Arab revolutions that began in Tunisia in December 2010 and resulted in a wave of uprisings across the Arab world. And when you actually think about it (and it's been credited in many newspapers and other media around the world), then one catalyst for this widespread revolution was the act of one man. One man, by the name of Bouazizi, who decided one day to set himself on fire to protest, not against his government - no, it was not such a noble act, but it was specially against the confiscation of his goods and the humiliation he suffered under the government officials who came around his street to harass him. This then led to widespread public anger and violence, which led to the fall of the Tunisian government. This of course spread to other countries around Tunisia, most notably that of Egypt and Libya. 

This of course brings to mind a very often quoted phrase these days, that repression is the seed of revolution. 

On this note, I want to talk about Food Revolution Day. What is it you might ask? Well, if you're an avid fan of Jamie Oliver, you will know all about his series, Food Revolution. Basically, it’s about creating a movement to educate children about food and to fight against obesity. Honestly, if you look at the food that the American school children are eating, you won’t be surprised why obesity is such a great problem there. Children there are served sodas, pizzas, huge burgers, fries, and mystery meat – basically the epitome of a great American meal. The revolution has gained momentum in many states in America, and I particularly watching the series and reading the toolkits that Jamie has provided to empower parents and children to make a change in their schools.

This brings to mind a quote by Marianne Williamson “Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one." Jamie Oliver made food education his personal revolution, and I would like to think that he has succeeded somewhat in impacting the world. Food Revolution Day is perhaps a culmination or an extension of what has been done, it goes beyond food education to school children – it is slated on 19 May 2012, and it is a day for people to recognize that we need to start thinking about where our food comes from. It is a day for parents to realize that food habits are cultivated at home, and they too have a part to play in improving the lives of both themselves and their children.

Anyhow, I’m not sure if my own consciousness about food began before or after I watched the series or heard about it, but I have been increasingly conscious of what I am eating of late. One reason is because after starting work, I’ve been eating lunch at hawker centres and elsewhere, and this, coupled with a lack of exercise, has resulted in some weight gain. What I am about to relate is probably the story of many.

Often, when I eat at hawker centres (Lau Pa Sat and Golden Shoe for example), I can’t help but feel a tad sick at the amount of oil, salt and MSG that’s going into my body. So why not eat salads you might ask? Salad shops are abundant where I work, mainly because all of us here are white collared workers, but the cost of these salads are astronomical! A bowl of bak chor mee or wanton mee will probably set me back $3 - $3.50, but salads start from at least $8! And that’s the most basic salad with NO meats! Being the cheapo that I am, I can’t help but think that for $8, I can buy buttercup, arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers enough to feed my entire family of 5! Trying to eat healthy in Singapore really is expensive! And because of my work hours (I often work till 10pm), I really don’t have the time to prepare salads or other homecooked food myself. Enter my mother. Sometimes when I don’t make it back for dinner, I get my mom to pack my dinner for lunch tomorrow, so that I can not only save money, but know that I’m eating healthy home cooked food. These are the small things that I have been doing in order to have a healthier lifestyle. For those who don’t have such nice mothers like I do, don’t fret – you can make a huge batch of pasta sauce and freeze it into meal-sized portions – I do that with my Spaghetti Bolognese which I pack to the office and heat up with the microwave in the office. You can also fry rice (not so much mee hoon and kuay teow since they don’t last long) and store it in the fridge. On weekends, I bake breads or steam paus, and these are very easily stored in the fridge or freezer.

Another thing I also do is to make batches of granola which I keep in airtight containers, and this, along with the steamed paus, makes up my breakfast for the week.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been experimenting with many granola recipes, and I have come to realize that the beauty of granola is that there is no fixed recipe. Using the granola formula as your base, you can play around with as many add-ins as you want – some think that rolled oats are a must-have for granola, but I’m telling you that I’ve used rolled barley and rolled spelt and the granola tastes equally good. You can make yourself a chocolate granola, or a nutty granola, or a fruit & seed one – the world is your oyster when playing around with granola recipes! That said, I’m still working on a foolproof granola recipe that I can publish on the blog, so please be patient while I work out the kinks :]

This recipe below is the first granola recipe that I tried, and one that I didn’t tweak too much because I knew that the sweetness would be pretty much okay for me.

Granola Recipe with Molasses

Adapted from Cook with No Books who adapted it from Melissa 

240g rolled oats

1 cup assorted nuts/seeds (I used a combination of almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, millet grains and quinoa)

½ tsp sea salt  

½ tsp ground cinnamon  

50g unsulphured blackstrap molasses*
10g honey

35g unsalted butter

30g water

½ tsp vanilla extract

Optional: dried fruits such as raisins

*You can find blackstrap molasses at organic food stores – it retails for about S$5 or less per jar.

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine together the rolled oats, assorted nuts, sea salt and ground cinnamon. I am far too lazy to chop the nuts, so what I do is to take the nuts and give them a quick whirl in the food processor to get huge chunks. At the same time, I also take a quarter of the rolled oats and blend them in the processor until I get an almost fine powder. This helps to bind the rolled oats together so that you can get granola clusters.
2. In another bowl, combine the molasses, butter and water together. Microwave on high for about 30 seconds, or until the butter has melted. Stir in the vanilla extract.
3. Then, pour in the liquid ingredients into the large mixing bowl, stirring well until every dry ingredient is slightly moistened. It will appear as if the liquid is insufficient at first, but continue mixing and it’ll be okay. Rest the mixture for a few minutes while you prepare a baking tray lined with baking liner or a non-stick liner.
4. Pour the granola mixture on to the tray and evenly distribute it. You should also try to flatten and compact it. Try to leave gaps in the layer so that you can easily turn over the granola layer for even baking later. Bake it at 150°C on the middle rack for about 20-25 minutes, or until the granola turns a dark golden brown. (The mixture is already a golden brown before baking because of the blackstrap molasses.) If you are afraid that the bottom of the layer is not evenly brown, remove the tray at about the 15-minute mark and gently fold over the layers from the gaps you have created earlier. Be careful not to break up any granola clusters.
5. Remove the tray from the oven when it is a dark golden brown and allow the granola to cool thoroughly. If you desire, stir in the dried fruits at this juncture.

Janine's jots: 

• Taste: I actually found the recipe not sweet enough, because I reduced the sugar amounts a little. I would recommend increasing the amount of honey or sugar at least 10% more. Also, if you're new to blackstrap molasses, you might wish to reduce the amount a little because the 'iron-like' taste takes some getting used to.
• Texture: In order to get clusters, one way is to grind up some of the oats so that it forms a powder to bind the other oats. I usually grind up about 50g of oats. If you want more binding powder, do add in some flax or linseeds.
• Serving size: This recipe makes approximately 500g of granola, which is sufficient for a fortnight's worth of breakfasts for a single person.  
• Modifications: I have made many more modifications to this original recipe since the first time I made it - you can change up the amounts of fruits/seeds/nuts as well as the type of rolled grain - I have used rolled spelt and barley to great success as well.
• Storage: Once thoroughly cooled, store in airtight containers in a cool and dry place. Try to consume within a month.
• Would I make this again?: Definitely!

So anyway, the purpose of this post is not to stop you from buying cornflakes or cereal (unless I figure out a way to make them myself) or even granola right this moment, but I'm reminding you to be aware. To be aware of what you're putting in your bodies, whether it be refined products or not. And if you're interested to know what Singapore is doing on 19 May 2012 for Food Revolution Day, do check out the Singapore Food Revolution Movement here!

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I love snacking. Friends who are close to me will know that I have to have my breakfast once I'm awake, followed by lunch about 3-4h later, followed by a tea-time (or snack-time) and finally dinner by 7pm. In between, I might sneak in a cookie or fruit if I'm at home. Post-holiday, I've been putting myself on a semi-diet, where I try to cut down on eating overly unhealthy stuff. However, I still have cookie cravings - so I figured, why not bake a healthy cookie that I can munch on at will without feeling overly guilty about the calories? Plus the fact that the 1-kg packet of rolled oats which I bought last year was still lying around the cabinet untouched, it was time for me to make some oatmeal cookies!

This recipe has been on my mind for awhile, and it calls for applesauce, which I have blogged about here. Applesauce is a healthy alternative to fats (typically oil or butter) and this substitute is perfect here because I am looking for chewy cookies, and not crisp ones. Applesauce will result in a cookie with a softer and moister texture. 

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Adapted from Nick Malgieri's Perfect Light Desserts and Cook's Illustrated here

Makes 36 cookies

Ingredients:

125 g   all-purpose flour

½ tsp    baking powder

½ tsp    baking soda

½ tsp    salt

30 g     butter, softened

90 g     granulated sugar 

80 g     light brown sugar 

1 large  egg (about 55-60g)

¼ cup   unsweetened applesauce 

1 tsp     vanilla extract

100 g   rolled oats 

75 g     raisins (you can substitute this with pecans, cranberries or even chocolate chunks!)

Method:

1. Set racks in upper and lower third of oven and preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat softened butter and granulated sugar together. Add the brown sugar until mixture turns fluffy. 
4. Add in the egg and beat until thoroughly mixed. 
5. Beat in the applesauce, followed by the vanilla extract. 
6. Add the flour mixture and mix until the dough starts to come together. Add rolled oats and raisins one at a time and continue mixing the batter. 
7. Drop the dough using a teaspoon (or an ice cream scoop if you are so inclined), placing them 2 inches (or about 4 fingers) apart on the greased cookie sheets. Use a fork to gently flatten the mounds of dough until about 2 cm thick. 
8. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. At the halfway mark, change the positions of the pans, from top to bottom and back to front. Once the edges of the cookies start to brown, remove the pans. The centre of the cookie will look underdone, the surface will look dull, but wet and shiny in between the cracks. 
9. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before sliding them onto a wire rack to cool.

In pictures

After whisking the dry ingredients, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. 

This is an example of not-so-good creaming. Cream until fluffy (a sort of yellowish-white) and use the correct sugar in the recipe! I used coarse granulated sugar - whereas fine granulated sugar was called for! =/

Add your egg. You can beat it first before adding to your batter or crack it into your batter and use your spoon to beat it up. I prefer the latter since it means fewer bowls to wash. 

Add your applesauce followed by the vanilla extract and mix thoroughly!

Dump it your rolled oats! (Mine is not pure rolled oats but a mix of wheat sticks, dried fruit and some other stuff). I added in the oats before I added the flour - not sure if it affects the recipe or not =/

Add in the flour all at once and give the batter a quick mix.  Do not overmix!

The completed batter :)

Scoop equal portions of batter and place them at least 1.5 inches apart on a lined baking tray. 

At half-time, I turned the trays around to ensure more even baking. Look at these babies expand!

Aaaannnddd.... we're done :) The cookies should be golden brown on the outside and the color of sand on top. 

See the "moistness" on the top of the cookie? 

Here's another closeup :)

And the above two pictures are my slightly-failed attempts at better food-styling. I think the ribbons detracted too much from the cookies =X

A final one:

Nutritional information: 

Per cookie: 54 calories, 1g total fat, 1g protein, 10g carbohydrates
(These values are from the book but the above recipe will have lower values because I have reduced the sugar (both white and brown) by 20% as compared to the original recipe.)

Janine's Jots: 

• Cookies will look undone at 10-12 minutes, but this is what makes them chewy! If you want your cookies crisp, just leave them slightly longer for 15 minutes. 
• I felt that the floury taste was still a little strong - the next time, I'll up the vanilla extract to 2 tsp, together with more rolled oats (probably up to 130g) because there doesn't seem to be enough!
• If you want a tender, chewy cookie - you can also substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour - the lower protein content will reduce the amount of gluten formation.
• I made a tiny batch with some chunky peanut butter and it tasted great :)
• The original recipe calls for 110g of fine granulated sugar and 100g of brown sugar - these proportions would be apt for someone who like their cookies sweet. The reduced amounts in my recipe above makes for a less-than-normal sweet tasting cookie. 
• Note that the use of fats (butter, in this case) is not totally eliminated because it adds flavor to the cookie. 

This post made it onto Tasteologie here :)