Sprouted buckwheat, banana & cocao nib granola

My sister has sent me granola from Australia twice and both times when the granola nears the end I am depressed. The Australians call the activated buckwheat granola Buckini's. I like the sound of that. 

So I tried to make something similar. Not close to as good as the Aussie version but close enough. 

Buckwheat is gluten free, in fact it's a fruit not a grain. The health benefit of anything sprouted is what you awaken the otherwise dormant nutrients locked in the sprouted ingredient. So basically you're boosting the nutrient content. While making it much easier for your system to digest. 

If you don't have the patience to sprout the buckwheat (trust me it's super simple), you could use just dried regular buckwheat. Just not sure if it will turn out really hard. 

I recently found out about the super food lucuma. It's a natural sweetener, low GI,  that is often used in Central America. The added benefit is that it contains good levels of the cancer fighting B vitamin Beta-carotene, iron, zinc as well as calcium and protein. It's the first time I use it and for me, it was a mild enough sweetness with no strange long lingering after taste. 

I bet adding some hazelnuts to the mix would also bring about another level of yummy. 

Ingredients: 

4 dl sprouted buckwheat*

2 tsp ground cardamon or cinnamon 

1,5  banana - over ripe, mashed

1,5 tbsp coconut oil, melted

pinch of salt 

1,5 dl pumpkin or sunflower seeds, or half of each  

1,5 dl walnuts or pecans 

2 tbsp lucuma - optional

1,5 dl shaved coconut

1 dl chia seeds or flax

1 dl mulberries

2/3 dl cacao nibs

optional - 2 tbsp maple syrup (if you like your granola sweet)
yocuma

1. Pre-heat your oven to 150C. 
2. In a bowl add the sprouted buckwheat, mashed banana, coconut oil, salt, cardamon or cinnamon and mix (and maple syrup of you want extra sweetness). You want to mix it thoroughly. 
3. Add the nuts and seeds and the flaked coconut. 
4. Transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper. 
5. Spread the mix out so that you allow for as much browning of each ingredient as possible. 
6. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30-40min. Each 10min you want to give it all a stir, so that you get everything roasted and toasted without burning. 
7. Allow to cool completely before transferring to a container, then add the chia/flax, mulberries, cacao nibs and mix or shake around to spread those last yummies evenly through the granola. 

This granola will keep out of the fridge for about 1 week. So eat up!! I can highly recommend eating it with coconut or sheep yoghurt and some fresh fruit of the season. 

* Sprouting buckwheat is real simple. Add the dried buckwheat to a bowl and cover with water for 8 hours (over night), place a plate over the bowl so its not air tight but covered. Rinse thoroughly and then return the semi wet buckwheats to the same bowl. Again cover with a plate. Leave for another day.

Banana Granola

My hubby loves granola for breakfast and I have made a home made version before but then someone mentioned banana granola and I thought, wow that I have to try.

You will be surprised at how easy it is to make your own granola and once you have done it and tasted it you will be hooked! Also the great thing is it will save you a penny or two as making your own allows you to make several batches with the same ingredients. You can vary the flavour with spaces, such as ginger, cinnamon, cardamon, nutmeg. You could add raw cacao powder or cacao nibs....Also you can play around with the nuts and seeds you use to give it varying textures and flavours.

The use of grains is also completely up to you and you can be as playful as you like. The only constant for this recipe is the banana. You want to use two ripe/overly ripe bananas to get a real banana flavour going.

These are the ingredients I used for this batch of granola:
2 ripe bananas
1,5 tbsp melted coconut oil
pinch of salt
3 tbsp chia seeds (or flax if you prefer)
1 dl flaked dried coconut (you could use shredded too if you prefer)
2-4 tbsp maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want the granola)
1,5 dl whole buckwheat (I soaked mine over night but that's not a must)
1,5 dl oats
1,5 dl spelt flakes
0,5 dl pumpkin seeds
0,5 dl sunflower seeds
0,5 dl walnuts

1. Preheat your oven to 170C. 
2. Using a blender, blend the bananas to a smooth 'soup' like consistency. Add this to a large mixing bowl.
3. Melt the coconut butter to the mixing bowl, add salt and maple syrup. Mix. 
4. Now add all the rest of the ingredients. Make sure all the dry ingredients get coated with the banana mix. 
5. Transfer the mixture to a oven tray covered in baking paper,  flatten the mixture out so it soccer the entire tray. The point is you want to get as much of the granola to get baked. 
6. Now bake the granola for 8-12 minutes, you want that first golden colouring of the granola. Then take the tray out of the oven and flip it, so the under side, the 'unbaked' areas get the chance to bake. Return the tray to the oven for another 8-12 minutes. 
7. Depending on how crunchy you want the granola you could go for another flip & mix and allow it to bake another 4-5 minutes but longer than that I cannot recommend as it will go hard, which isn't nice biting into. 
8. Allow the granola to thoroughly cool off, and transfer to a container. If you don't allow the granola to cool off it will create old within your container within the day. Believe me I have made that mistake before. 

Enjoy the granola with yoghurt, milk of your choice and some fresh fruit or berries.