Not quite ready for Monday? This healthy and delicious oats and almond sheera will give you the boost you need to kickstart your week. Made with a versatile drink mix, it can be served as a breakfast porridge (especially good for babies) a healthy dessert or even enjoyed as a soothing nightcap.

Recipes

Oats and Almond Sheera

To make, heat 2 tsp coconut oil/ghee in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Add 3 level tbsp of the oats and almond drink mix (recipe below) and whisk on low heat until it turns light brown and fragrant.

Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup of milk (dairy/non dairy) and 1/2 cup of water (if serving as dessert/porridge, decrease the water by 1/4 cup). Continue whisking over medium heat until it reaches a low boil.

Reduce the heat and continue to whisk until the mixture starts to thicken. At this point, you can grate a little nutmeg over it (I sometimes add a dash of ground turmeric, black pepper and ginger as well).

Cook for another minute, remove from heat and sweeten to taste with any sweetener of your choice (I used palm jaggery syrup).

Top with slivered almonds, (add additional nuts, fresh/dried fruit for porridge) serve warm and enjoy.

Oats and Almond Drink Mix

Ingredients

1/2 cup rolled oats, toasted
1/2 cup almonds, blanched & toasted
1 tbsp flax & chia seed powder (I used a store bought powder, but you can use whole seeds and powder them along with the oats)
4-5 green cardamoms
Large pinch saffron strands

Method

In a pan, toast the rolled oats over low heat stirring frequently until they turn a golden brown and give out a nutty aroma. Remove from heat, transfer to a plate and leave to cool.

In the same pan, toast the blanched almonds over low heat until they turn a light golden brown. Cool these as well.

Once cooled, use a food processor/spice grinder to pulse the toasted oats, cardamom, saffron, flax and chia seeds to a fine powder. Set this aside in a bowl.

Now pulse the toasted almonds until powdered. To ensure a fine sieve the almond powder once and return the larger pieces back to the food processor and pulse again.

Add the ground almonds to the oats mix. Stir well to combine. I usually pulse everything once more to ensure even mixing.

Store the powder refrigerated in an airtight glass jar for up to two months.