Vegan Toasted Granola

Shopping for supermarket granola is a dirty experience. Take your pick - the cheap one with nothing but oats and dusty sultanas, the one where the second ingredient listed is sugar, or the one that costs $20. Making granola seems like a palava but it really takes bugger all time. It makes for easy breakfasts throughout the week, with the exact ingredients you want and without costing a fortune.

I find Iron Calcium and Zinc to be the three hardest minerals to chase after on a vegan diet, so I designed this granola to get the day off to a decent start. If you serve it with two tablespoons of hemp seeds and some plant based milk it has 29g of protein, so it can be a great foundation in the meal plans for gym-goers.

The recipe calls for black strap molasses because it contains a rich concentration of minerals including calcium and iron. You can substitue light molasses, or golden syrup or treacle but the nutritional values with vary accordingly.

Ingredients

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 160 C (320 F).
  2. Roughly chop the nuts and seeds and mix with the oats, sesame, cinnamon and salt.
  3. Pour the tahini and molasses into a heat-proof jug (the total volume will be ½ C) and microwave for approximately 20 seconds until the mixture is runny. Depending on the thickness of your tahini you may need to add a little bit of water.
  4. Mix the dry and wet ingredients and spread out on a lined baking tray. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring at the half-way mark.
  5. Chop the dried fruit and add to the toasted mixture.
  6. Store in an air-tight container out of direct light.

Nutrition

Makes 8 serves of approximately 100g, 470kcal per serve

Macros Per Serve - 16g protein, 27g fat, 47g carbohydates

Key Nutrition Per Serve - 208mg Calcium, 5.6mg Iron, 4.1mg Zinc

Notes

I like to serve this with two tablespoons of ground flaxseed, two tablespoons of hemp seeds and a cup of soy milk. Its a big bowl of food but it doubles the protein and calcium count and provides 5g of Omega-3 fats.