Just My Thoughts: Oats - make it your business

Oats doesn’t have to be plain or boring. In fact, be it oats or bitter gourd, how I feel about food is, you’ve got to make it yours to experience its magic.

Yes, I’ve finally taken my first step towards archiving my food creations/recipes. In fact, there’s so many things that I’ve been wanting to blog about. However, given my current circumstances, time constraints, and the fact that I spend a fair bit of time in the kitchen these days, which I enjoy, I’m happy to share my food blog with anyone interested.

Today, I’m sharing one of the ways I prepare oats and it doesn’t require any cooking. This style is fondly know as overnight oats. In case you want to give this oats a try, I encourage you to follow your instincts, tastebuds and go all creative! I’m also mindful that some of you may already be having this for breakfast. In which case, please feel free to share any useful tips or creative ideas that you may have.

Now let’s get started....

Ingredients:

Rolled oats

Milk or yogurt of your choice

Any natural sweetener

The following can be optional but I always add these:

Chia seeds

Spices (cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg powder)

Optional items:

Nuts (walnut / almond / Brazil nut etc.)

Fruits (mango / fresh berries / coconut flakes etc.)

Seeds (flax seeds / sunflower seeds / pumpkin seeds etc.)

Natural vanilla extract (not imitation vanilla)

Pure saffron (in which case, do not add vanilla extract)

At times you may replace chia seeds with sweet basil seeds (aka sabja seeds/tukmalanga) if you want to.

Method:

Basically, soak oats in milk or yogurt and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Add chia seeds, sweetener, and spices to the mixture before refrigerating it. The same applies if using vanilla or saffron.

In the morning, add any of the optional items (fruits, nuts, seeds) that you may prefer or have it as it is.

Following might be useful:

Oats - I won’t recommend trying this method with steel cut oats as it requires to be cooked thoroughly, at least in my opinion. I’m not a fan of quick oats or instant oats. Thus, I prefer old-fashioned rolled oats for refrigerating.

Milk - as per your preference - such as full cream/skim/lactose free cow’s milk, soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk etc.

Yogurt - I use this occasionally, and I generally prefer vanilla yogurt with oats over plain, Greek or other flavoured yogurts. However, you may add whichever yogurt you like with oats.

Natural sweetener - you can use one of the following - good quality honey, pure maple syrup, stevia, powdered jaggery, or finely chopped/ground dates. I like to switch between all of these for the sake of having a variety of taste and when using dates, I prefer medjool dates over other varieties. If you want to use sugar, maybe it’s worth noting that raw sugar is a better choice over refined/white sugar.

Fruits - I prefer not to add fruits that require longer time to chew such as chopped apple and dried apricot.

Quantity - I do not worry too much about the quantity of milk or yogurt, I just add bit more milk/yogurt to the mixture in the morning if it gets too thick. Oats with yogurt mixture tends to get very thick and so I use less oats or more yogurt. After one attempt of preparing this, you’ll figure out the right portion for you and the quantity of oats and milk/yogurt as per your liking. In case you end up preparing bit more than required, you can have it the following day provided it remains in the refrigerator; it doesn’t go off that quick. The rest of the ingredients can be added as per your taste. Keep in mind that chia seeds expand in liquid so a little goes a long way. You can start with the ratio of 1/2 cup of oats with 1/2 cup of milk or 3/4 cup of yogurt and adjust the consistency in the morning as per your liking. Similarly, you may add 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon of chia seeds. The quantity of fruits and whether you add nuts will also determine how filling this breakfast is for you. From the photos below, you can notice I prefer bit more liquid over thick oats mixture usually sold outside.

Time saving tip - depending on whether I’m planning to eat it at home or take it to work with me, I prepare and store the mixture in an appropriate bowl or container to avoid transferring it to something else in the morning.

To heat or not to heat - in case it’s a cold morning and I haven’t used the yogurt, I just heat the oats with milk mixture in the microwave before adding fruits/nuts. Nonetheless, this is a rare occurrence and I do not prefer having microwave breakfast on a daily basis. Whilst I’m not much fond of cold food items, I prefer this during summer. In cooler season, I opt for traditional stove top porridge where possible. I have my own version that I may share some other time.

Oats may not be suitable for people who have gluten intolerance. Well, these folks would know it better. Other than that, oats is considered quite healthy which you could research if interested. With the competing priorities at home, I just can’t be bothered to do the extra work of researching then referencing and footnoting the sources here.

Bit of background

This is inspired by oats/breakfasts I’ve bought near my workplace in the past, combined with a lifestyle that doesn’t allow me leisure kitchen time. In addition, since I’ve become a vegetarian two and half years ago, I try to prepare my own meals where possible. This leads me to experiment more in the kitchen, with the limited time I get. Thus, I have not stolen or plagiarized someone else’s recipe here, just thought to make it clear.

I must also add from personal experience, that oats consumption is one of the natural, safe, healthy, and easy ways I boost milk supply as a nursing mum. It has worked for me in the past too. Well, this reminds me to clarify that I am not a trained chef, nutritionist, or in any profession related to food and health. I therefore do not intent to give unsolicited advice. Please apply common sense and be a little kind to yourself and to me.

Finally, since I haven’t been a big fan of clicking photos of each of my meals, here’s a handful of the variations from sometime back. You can explore different toppings and get as creative as your tastebuds would allow. I hope you enjoy your creation!😊