Saturday 12 January 2019

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How to Prepare Steel-cut Oatmeal?

Oatmeal made of steel-cut oats

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup steel-cut oats (70g)
2. 1 cup fresh skimmed milk
3. Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Add 1/2 cup steel-cut oats into a pot.
2. Add 1 cup fresh skimmed milk and a pinch of salt to taste.
3. Bring to boil slowly on medium heat (no. 4 on my stove), stiring occasionally.
4. Once is starts boiling lightly, let it cook for approx. 3 minutes. Or you can even remove it from the stove now and let the remaining heat in the pot continue to cook the oats.
5. Remove from stove and if you have the time, let it rest for 5 minutes to absorb all the liquid from the milk, otherwise, it is good to serve now.
6. Serve it in a bowl on its own or with some chopped nuts and seeds. You can also add some berries or fruit or even drizzle a bit of honey, if you have a sweet tooth :-)

Additional Information:

Oats have known to be a super nutritious grain for a long time, with its slow-releasing carbohydrates, but in recent times, there has been even more talk about how good it is for the health of individuals to consume oats.

Rolled oats is the most commonly eaten version, but it can get boring after a while. Recently, I have discovered that there is such a thing called steel cut oats. It is not easily available in Denmark, but I have found whole grain oats, which is very similar to steel cut oats, except that it is not cut into half.

I come to know about steel-cut oats after watching a Brightside youtube video on oats, and I have fallen madly in love with it. It tastes SO SO good - has a chewy texture and a nutty taste to it. Why didn't I discover it earlier!!! As a result, our kids are starting to like oats again. Lately, I have had a bit of a challenge getting our kids to eat their morning oatmeal, as they got so tired of rolled oats and its mushy texture. Thus, this discovery couldn't have come more timely :-). What a saviour :-)

Steel-cut oats is basically whole oats that are cracked, but not flattened like rolled oats, and thus it is less processed. The picture on the left shows steel-cut oats and the picture on the right shows rolled oats. 

Left: Steel-cut oats                                 Right: Rolled oats

Steel-cut oats retains the same amount nutrients as rolled oats, if not even more. You basically cook it with one part steel-cut oats and two parts liquid, whether it is cooking it with milk or water. But cooking it with milk, even with skimmed fresh milk, makes it so much creamer than cooking it with water. Add just a little salt to taste and it is delicious on its own :-)

If I have carving for full-fat fresh milk, I sometimes cheat a little and cook it with full-cream fresh milk, but most of the time, skimmed fresh milk is good enough for me. Or I will scoop a port of the cooked steel-cut oats and eat it with some milk poured into it and add some chopped nuts and berries.

The only draw-back is that steel-cut oats is 3-4 times more expensive than rolled oats, and is only found in the health food stores in Denmark. But I reckon that as it becomes more common, it will soon be introduced in the supermarkets and the price will go down.

Some measurements that suit our family:

1/4 cup fully leveled off = 35g = 0.5 dl = 1 person
1/3 cup fully leveled off = 50g = 1 persons
1/2 cup fully leveled off = 70g = 1 dl = 2 persons
1 cup almost leveled off = 140g = 2 dl = 4 persons


Half-cup steel-cut oats

 1. Add 1/2 cup steel-cut oats into a pot.

 2. Add 1 cup fresh skimmed milk and a pinch of salt to taste.
3. Bring to boil slowly on medium heat (no. 4 on my stove), stiring occasionally (takes about 5-10 mins)
4. Once is starts boiling lightly, let it cook for approx. 3 minutes. Or you can even remove it from the stove now and let the remaining heat in the pot continue to cook the oats.
5. Remove from stove and if you have the time, let it rest for 5 minutes to absorb all the liquid from the milk, otherwise, it is good to serve now.

 Now it's done :-) Could you see the whole grain in-tact and not mushy. Adjust the the thickness and consistency as desired by adding some milk.

6. Serve it in a bowl on its own or with some chopped nuts and seeds. I like to add sunflower seeds.

You can also add some berries or fruit or even drizzle a bit of honey, if you have a sweet tooth :-)

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