Jessica Koslow’s Turmeric ‘Nola

It is somewhat counter-intuitive to start a post about granola confessing that you don’t really like granola. But here we are. Hands up if you agree that granola often feels far too sugary to have first thing in the morning yet nowhere near sugary enough to constitute a snack!

But when Jessica Koslows of Sqirl-fame shares a recipe for Turmeric Millet ‘Nola via instagram, you find yourself intrigued enough to throw caution to the wind, pre-heat the oven and get down to work. ‘Work’ is a rather relative term here though – this granola is very very quick to throw together.

And you can guess where this is going … I LOVED LOVED LOVED this granola. It is superbly crunchy (key to a good granola if you ask me) – thanks to the nuts and grains essentially being held together by a buttery caramel. It’s toasty and nutty and beautifully earthy thanks to a healthy dose of both turmeric and cardamom. Sounds hipster? Maybe, but it works – this essentially tastes like a grown-up version of Smacks, my childhood Kryptonite.

And in case you are wondering where on the breakfast-to-snack spectrum this granola falls, I would say squarely to the right side of ‘snack’. I am sure I would happily eat a few clusters atop a bowl of yoghurt and some fruit, but I would also not be ashamed to snack on handfuls of the stuff in the cinema, instead of, say, Kettlecorn.

Writing this post I had to hide the cooling tray on top of my fridge. One day in and 1/3 is already gone. I don’t know how that happened either …So you have been warned – the stuff is pure sugary and addictive.

Turmeric ‘Nola

Lightly adapted from Jessica Koslow to suit what I had on hand (head here for the original)

Notes: Making the wet mix for the granola is basically the same process as making honeycomb – once the caramel has reached the required temperature you quickly whisk in some baking soda. This will make the mixture bubble up like crazy, so don’t be alarmed!

Ingredients

125g puffed spelt or other puffed grains
90g chopped walnuts
60g oats
2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp salt
100g light brown sugar
40g butter
140g brown rice syrup
1 tsp molasses
3/4 tsp baking soda

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 165 degrees Celsius and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

In a large heat-proof bowl combine the spelt, walnuts, oats, turmeric, cardamom and salt.

In a medium sauce pan heat the brown sugar, butter, brown rice syrup and molasses until the mixture reaches 120 degrees Celsius. Add the baking soda and quickly whisk the caramel with a balloon whisk to ensure the baking soda is evenly distributed. Pour the caramel over the dry ingredients and stir to combine very well.

Spread the granola on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring once half-way through.

Leave to cool on a tray and break into bite-sized pieces once cool enough to handle.

Store in a lidded container.