Museli
Over the past few months i've been perfecting a museli recipe for breakfast. When I say museli i'm talking about 3 simple ingredients: yogurt, oats and fruit.
Museli has always been one of my favourite meals to have in the morning, it's so simple to prepare and so delicious to eat. In the past i've used all kinds of yogurt from low-fat to flavoured, toasted and untoasted museli, with or without fruit and so on.
After re-evaluating what I had been eating eating a few months ago, researching things about food and Paleo then trying museli at several cafes around Sydney, I combined what I had learned and have settled on a recipe after a number of weeks of minor adjustments here and there.
The key to making museli so delicious was the discovery that oats have something called phytic acid that isn't that good for the digestive system as it's somewhat toxic. They should be soaked overnight in water, or even better, yogurt to remove the majority of the acid.
Here is a excerpt from a book called Nourishing Traditions that a number of health websites are quoting about the benefits of soaking oats:
All grains contain phytic acid (an organic acid in which phosphorous is bound) in the outer layer or bran. Untreated phytic acid can combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron especially zinc in the intestinal track and block their absorption. This is why a diet high in unfermented whole grains may led to serious mineral deficiencies and bone loss.
The modern misguided practice of consuming large amounts of unprocessed bran often improves colon transit time at first but may lead to irritable bowel syndrome and, in the long term, many other adverse effects. Soaking allows enzyme, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to break down and neutralize phytic acid. As little as seven hours of soaking in warm acidulated water will neutralize a large portion of phytic acid in grains.
The simple practice of soaking cracked or rolled cereal grains overnight will vastly improve their nutritional benefits.
When you combine yogurt and oats you'll get nothing more than a bowl of just combined ingredients, oats are dry enough that they don't react to yogurt immediately, they are just being coated.
However when you place it in the fridge for over 6 hours or more, something cool happens, the oats absorb the yogurt, they become bloated and expand, the yogurt becomes creamier and has a far more solid texture.
If you were to tip the bowl upsidedown without soaking, it would just pour out, while after soaking, it goes no where, it's like cement setting.
I might sound a little obsessive about this, but man, it's so good to eat, the fact that I have it 3-4 times a week speaks volumes of how much I enjoy it.
What i've settled on is organic full fat yogurt, unstabilised oats (their purest form, unprocessed), blueberries (frozen at first) and a few pitted dates (chopped).
Frozen blueberries are great because they are cheap and adding them frozen means their excess juice doesn't mix with everything else, they are completely defrosted by serving time. The dates add a touch of sweetness, chopped into small pieces they are scattered around evenly. Soaking also benefits the fruit, softening it up.
I've tried adding a variety of nuts but the crunchy texture didn't appeal to me so much. Diced apple was also placed on top just before serving and while nice, it didn't really seem to fit, it added a little too much sweetness and just made preparation more complicated, it's good to keep it simple.
Below you can see the difference that soaking makes and the exact measurements I use.
Museli
Ingredients:
- 250g Organic full fat yogurt
- 50g Unstabilised oats
- 25g Pitted dates
- 30g Frozen blueberries
Method:
- Combine yogurt, oats, dates and blueberries in a small bowl, mix until combined.
- Cover and store overnight in the fridge.