Quinoa Granola by Donna Hay

In April, I wrote about my amazing experience in Venice, where I attended Meeta K. Wolff's and  Jeanne Horak-Druiff's Food Photography & Styling course. As a gift, we got the brand new Donna Hay cookbook called „Fresh and Light“. If you are familiar with her cookbooks, you know that the food pictures in her books are all very bright. In this book, the photographer and the stylist focused even more on the brightness of the pictures, which at the same time adds a lightness to the food. All the dishes are on white plates, with a white background and accompanied by white napkins.

I have been a big fan of Donna Hay's cookbooks for around 6 years. Back then, I did an internship in Sydney/Australia. Donna Hay is Australian and so my friend Alicia, who I was staying with, naturally had several of her cookbooks at home. We frequently cooked Hay's recipes and I've been impressed by the conceptual design of her books ever since. During my stay, I was far away from my own food blog and taking food photos myself, so I just loved browsing through her books.

At the workshop, Meeta announced a competition for all the participants, consisting of cooking one of the dishes from the new cookbook we had all just received, as well as taking a nice picture of our dish.  Of course I couldn't wait to get going. This was my result.

I've been coming across granola quite a lot lately. It's a little overhyped for my taste, but on the other hand, it might just be me being Austrian and not used to it being everywhere. In the US and Australia (Donna Hay's home), granola is a very established breakfast dish and has very little in common with the muesli we all know over here. Granola is definitely the yummier choice. Maybe not quite as healthy as a breakfast of plain grains but still good for us. Granola is also the ideal in-between snack.

Oven-baked granola keeps for a while in a glass container. The great thing about the Donna Hay granola version is that it is gluten-free. Instead of using normal oats she uses white quinoa. I tried the recipe with red quinoa and it of course tasted delicious as well. This particular granola is vegan but instead of using maple syrup, you could also use the same amount of honey. I used corn oil for the granola but I am sure coconut oil would be a great choice as well. I am very happy I finally stumbled upon this recipe!

 

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Quinoa Granola by Donna Hay - From Her New Cookbook "Fresh and Light"

Ingredients:

  • 300g white quinoa, uncooked (Iused red quinoa from Davert)
  • 135g quick oats (I actually used millet flakes)
  • 70g raw seeds or nuts such as chia, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds etc.
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 60ml maple syrup
  • 2 TBSP vegetable oil

To serve:

  • Creamy and thick plain yoghurt such as greek yoghurt
  • Fresh fruit such as berries etc.

Preparation:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with non-stick parchment.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix well to combine.
  3. Spread the mixture over the baking tray, and bake for 15 minutes or until golden.
  4. Allow to cool completely and break into pieces. It’s not supposed to stick together, so don’t worry if it doesn't. 
  5. Serve with yoghurt and top with chopped fresh fruit such as strawberries. 
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