The Times - UK (2022-06-11)

the times Saturday June 11 2022

Body + Soul 5

chewy flapjack and 25 min for a crispier

one. Leave to cool for 15 min in the tin then

cut into squares and leave in the tin to cool.

The easiest homemade

muesli

Mix 500g porridge oats with 150g

dried fruit (chopped dried

apricots, sultanas, chopped

dried prunes, dried goji

berries), about 60g

mixed unsalted nuts

(flaked almonds,

chopped hazelnuts,

walnut pieces,

brazil nut pieces),

60g seeds (ground

flaxseeds, pump-

kin, sesame, sun-

flower, poppy) and

some toasted coconut

flakes. To make into

bircher muesli, take

about 50-60g muesli

per person, add some

grated apple (about

¼ of an apple per

person), a spoonful

of yoghurt and just

enough milk to

cover. Stir well,

cover and refriger-

ate overnight.

Nutty granola

Preheat the oven to 180C/

gas 4. Mix 50ml oil (sunflower or

vegetable) with 50ml sweetener (honey or

maple syrup) and a dash of vanilla extract.

Stir in about 400g jumbo oats, 80g mixed

seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, chia, sesame

etc) and 80g mixed, roughly chopped nuts

(pecan nuts, walnuts, cashews etc). Tip on

to one or two lined baking trays and spread

out evenly. Bake for about 20-25 min until

golden and smelling toasted. Remove from

to lunchtime at your desk. “Oats are a

complex-carb food with a low glycaemic

index that means they offer this sustained

energy,” she says. “The soluble fibre, oat

beta glucan, they contain also helps to slow

their absorption over two to three hours,

so that they just keep you going.” Bean says

it’s best to consume them two hours before

a workout, but to eat for breakfast if you are

not exercising.

Choose your oats

carefully

When it comes to selecting oats for their

health properties, some varieties are defi-

nitely more beneficial than others. “Where

possible choose coarse, steel cut oats, also

called Irish or ‘pinhead’ oats, which have

been cut in half by large steel blades and

are the most minimally processed,” says

Van de Bor. However, she says they do take

15-20 minutes to cook, longer than regular

rolled porridge oats, the most popular

variety, which are steamed and ironed flat

by a giant roller to retain many of the nutri-

ents. “Instant microwaveable oats are the

most processed variety so will be lower in

fibre and contain slightly fewer nutrients,”

Van de Bor says.

Being finely rolled so that they cook

more quickly means that instant oats have

a higher GI, which causes a more pro-

nounced blood sugar spike after eating

them. Watch out for added sugar or syrup,

which sends blood sugar soaring. Adding a

handful of oatbran to your instant oats can

lower the glycaemic response by as much

as 20 per cent, but it’s best to stick with the

least processed oat options.

the oven and stir in 100g mixed dried

fruits (cranberries, sultanas, goji berries,

chopped apricots etc). Set aside to cool.

Homemade oatcakes

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas 5. In a bowl,

mix together 200g oatmeal, 40g oats,

40g wholemeal flour, ½ teaspoon fine sea

salt and a teaspoon or two of caster sugar.

Melt 75g unsalted butter then stir into the

dry ingredients along with 100ml boiling

water. Mix together to make a soft dough.

Grease and line a baking tray. Dust the

work surface with oatmeal, then roll out

the dough to ½ cm thick. Cut out triangles

or rounds, then place on the baking tray

and bake for 18-20 min until lightly golden.

Turn over and bake for another 5 min until

golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Oat muffins

Line a muffin tin with cases and preheat

the oven to 180C/gas 4. Sift together 250g

plain flour with 2 teaspoons of baking

powder, then stir in 75g porridge oats. In a

separate bowl, beat 3 eggs with 175g caster

sugar and 250ml sunflower oil. Fold the

flour mixture into the egg mixture, along

with 2 mashed ripe bananas. Stir in a

handful of blueberries. Spoon into the

cases, then bake for 15 min until golden.

Oat pastry

The Times food editor Tony Turnbull

makes pastry dough with oats,

using equal parts flour,

porridge oats and butter

(about 125g of each will

make enough pastry

for a quiche serving

4-6). Add a little

beaten egg to help

it to bind. The ben-

efit of this is that

you don’t need to

pre-bake it before

adding the filling —

but it does need to be

a filling that will set, like

a quiche’s. Alternatively,

add lemon zest and use

the pastry for a

treacle tart.

Oat-crusted

chicken

goujons

Instead of using

breadcrumbs to coat

pieces of chicken to

make goujons, use oats

for extra crunch and texture.

Cut chicken breasts into strips.

Take three shallow bowls. In one, put

plain flour mixed with some salt and

pepper. In another, whisk a couple of

eggs. Put rolled oats in the last bowl. Dip

each chicken strip first in the flour, then

the egg, then the oats. Bake on a lined

tray in a preheated oven (190C/gas 5) for

20-25 min until golden and crispy and

cooked through.

is the ultimate superfood

Porridge bread

Rather than throwing away leftover por-

ridge, use it in a loaf instead of some of the

flour and liquid — it makes easy, moist,

quite savoury bread. Put 200g leftover

porridge (refrigerate it until you need it)

into a large mixing bowl with 500g strong

white bread flour, 7g easy-bake yeast and

1 teaspoon of flaked sea salt. Add 300ml

lukewarm water and mix well until a

dough comes together — it will be quite

wet and sticky. Turn the dough on to a

well-floured board or worktop and knead

for a few minutes. Put into a well-floured

bowl, cover with a tea towel and set aside in

a warm place for an hour to double in size.

Grease and line a loaf tin. Knead the dough

for a couple of minutes, then shape and

turn into the loaf tin. Set aside for another

45 min until it has risen again, and preheat

the oven to 220C/gas 7. Bake for 10 min,

then turn the oven down to 190C/gas 5.

Sprinkle some oats on top of the dough and

bake for another 25 min until the bottom

of the loaf sounds hollow when the bread

is turned out of the tin and tapped.

Oaty crumble topping

Instead of using only flour, sugar and

butter in a crumble topping, add oats for

extra crunch and flavour. Place 100g

unsalted butter and 100g plain flour into a

bowl and mix together with your fingertips

until nearly combined. Alternatively, use a

food processor and blend until it looks like

coarse breadcrumbs. Add 75g rolled oats

and 50g demerara sugar and mix well with

your hands until combined. Press some

bits into larger chunks for added texture.

Scatter over plums/apricots/peaches dot-

ted with brown sugar and a little cinna-

mon, or chunks of apple mixed with

berries, then roast in a preheated oven at

180C/gas 4 for about 40 min until golden.

Energy balls with oats and

peanut butter

Mix a couple of handfuls of oats in a bowl

with a few tablespoons of almond flour, a

few tablespoons of peanut butter, maple

syrup and a pinch of salt. Stir together —

you want a consistency that you can roll

into balls, so if it needs to be wetter add

more peanut butter; if it needs to be drier

add oats and/or almond flour. Roll into

balls in the palm of your hand, then put

into the fridge for a couple of hours. You

can melt dark chocolate and pour it on top

or dip the balls in it before returning to the

fridge to chill and set.

Quick and easy flapjack

Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin.

Melt 175g unsalted butter in a pan with

100g demerara sugar and 50g golden

syrup. In a separate bowl, put 250g large

rolled oats with a mixture of chopped fruit/

nuts (optional) such as apricots, raisins,

hazelnuts, flaked almonds or sesame

seeds. Stir the melted butter and sugar mix

into the dry ingredients. Bake in a pre-

heated oven at 190C/gas 5 for 20 min for a

10 ways with oats: easy recipes for cakes,

biscuits and bread By Harriet Addison

GETTY IMAGES

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