The Simple Joys of Granola

 

by Linda Tom

Breakfast has long been my favorite meal of the day. As an Asian America growing up in the 60s, my mornings usually began with the sugary, enriched cereals of that era: Fruit Loops, Lucky Charms, Apple Jacks and – yikes – Cap’n Crunch. Every now and then, my mom would wake up early to make banana pancakes or a steaming pot of lop chong fan (chinese sausage rice), but honestly as a kid, these paled in comparison to Coco Puffs and a “free” Decoder Ring. Once, I even replaced the milk in my cereal with a scoop of vanilla ice cream – et voilà – my first breakfast sundae!  To me, breakfast cereals became synonymous with dessert justified as a legit meal, minus the admonishment.

Fortunately teen vanity, compounded by the need to wiggle into my Jordache jeans, fueled the incentive to move on to healthier and less sugar laden breakfasts. In college I discovered whole wheat bagels and blueberry bran muffins. If I craved for something sweet and crunchy, granola was my fix. Now before you roll your eyes and dismiss granola as just another hippie cliche, the stuff I had didn’t come out of a box or a plastic bin at Whole Foods, it was made fresh every morning and served in my dorm cafeteria. Packed with a powerhouse of nutritious seeds, nuts and roasted grains, it was simply amazing, even on it’s own.

Now that my husband and I are on a budget, we haven’t bought granola in long time – like pesto sauce, it’s an item that’s a bit on the expensive side, especially considering how easy it is to make at home. Still, we took the easy way out and settled on a steady rotation of commercial whole grain cereals, sometimes mixing different brands in the same bowl when things needed shaking up. We could easily polish off several boxes a week; but sadly, I always felt that we weren’t really doing justice to the environment, our health and certainly not, our pocketbook. 

Things started looking up during my last visit to Mustafa’s in Little India; there I discovered an entire aisle brimming with nuts, seeds and dried fruit. Best of all, everything was sold in bulk and at a decent price. From that point on there was no turning back – I was on a mission to make my own granola. In the end, I was quite happy with the results – even my skeptical husband exclaimed with disbelief, “This is the best granola I ever tasted!”

One of the nicest things about DIY granola is this: After you’ve nailed the basic mix of honey, oats and oil, anything added to the blend is really up to you. This is also the perfect time to use up those loose bags of nuts and dried fruit in the pantry. In the recipe below, one item I insist upon are the pumpkin seeds – to me, they act as a sort of flavor binder between the various ingredients – they really do make a difference. If your granola looses its crunch, fear not, simply return it to a preheated 180c oven for 5 minutes to refresh. Cool completely before storing in an air tight container. By the handful, with yogurt or yes – even a scoop of vanilla ice cream – I hope you get the chance to enjoy your own granola soon.

GRANOLA 

5 cups rolled oats

1 1/4  cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup raw cashews, chopped

1/2 cup raw walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup raw almonds, chopped

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup canola oil

2/3 cup mixture of raisins and chopped dates

1. Preheat oven to 180c. In a large bowl, combine the rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, cashews, walnuts, almonds and ground cinnamon. Stir the honey and oil in a small saucepan, over low heat, until syrupy and combined. Add honey mixture to the dry ingredients, mix to evenly combine.

2. Spread the granola evenly over two lightly greased baking trays. Bake, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove trays from oven and fold in raisins and chopped dates. Cool completely and store in an air tight container. 

Makes 9 cups.
 

About Linda Tom: A graduate of Parsons School of Design, Linda was formerly Senior Art Director for the Singapore edition of Shape Magazine. She continues to reside in the garden city of Singapore with her husband and 3 cats. Born and raised in San Francisco, she remains, essentially, a California Girl at heart.