If you know me long enough, you might know that I used to have a weird obsession with raw vegan food. See my raw brownie ice-cream sandwich, raw cake, raw snickers recipes for evidence 🤣Although I have already gone through that phase, one thing I still love to have is raw vegan granola. And this Vegan Chocolate Raw Granola is definitely my favorite recipe. My love for raw vegan granola even resulted in me buying a dehydrator 😁 Raw granola is so expensive to buy, yet it’s surprisingly easy to make. Although using a dehydrator is the most ideal method to make this, I also included another method using just the oven 🙌🏻
Why Use Sprouted Buckwheats?
One main ingredient of this granola is activated buckwheat. “What on earth is activated buckwheat?”, you may wonder. Activated buckwheats are the products of the sprouting process of buckwheat followed by dehydration. You can buy activated buckwheat online or sprout them by yourself, which is what I’m doing here.
There are a lot of health benefits of sprouted buckwheats. First of all, buckwheat contains phytic acid, soaking them helps deactivating the phytic acid that may inhibit digestion. Hence, sprouted buckwheats are much easier to digest. Secondly, buckwheat also contains enzyme inhibitors that prevent the absorption of certain vitamins and minerals. By soaking and sprouting them, our body will be able to absorb more nutrients from buckwheats. Most importantly, during the sprouting process, the sprouts utilize the starches in the grains to grow, therefore reducing the GI value of buckwheat.
Sprouting grains/ buckwheat may seem like it requires a lot of effort, but indeed it’s not. All you have to do is to soak the buckwheat for 30 mins. Rinse them. And then place the sprouting jar upside down. Continue rinsing them twice a day until you see some little sprouts growing out from the buckwheat.
Why I Created This Recipe?
I remember I was craving for some granola one day. However, most store-bought granolas are either loaded with sugar and oil, or pricey. At the rate that I am consuming granola, I would have gone broke if I kept buying them from the stores. Plus, raw vegan granola was very rare here in Hong Kong few years ago. That’s why I literally have no choice but to make my own granola.
Inspiration
I tried several baked granola recipes online because back then I didn’t have a dehydrator. But I didn’t really like them as they usually involve using a large quantity of sweetener and/ or oil to bind the ingredients together. So I kept thinking what ingredients can I use instead of oil and syrup to hold the nuts and grains together?
Luckily, one day, when I was baking a vegan cake and substituting applesauce for oil, an idea suddenly came up my mind. “What if I use some sort of fruit puree to bind them together?” That way, I can not only reduce the amount of sweetener as fruit puree is already naturally sweet. What’s more, fruit puree forms a sticky mixture which can effectively help bind the grains and nuts together. So here you are, a raw vegan granola recipe without any oil and sweetener.
Outcome
Despite being raw, this raw vegan chocolate hazelnut granola is by no means less crunchy than its baked counterparts. It is also not overly sweetened, which is perfect as a healthy snack or serve with smoothie bowls. Tigernuts also added an interstingly chewy texture to the granola which I really like. But if you do not have any tigernuts on hand. Feel free to replace with any kinds of nuts or seeds. I also activated the nuts for better digestion, as well as increasing the bioavailability of nutrients in them.
Customise Your Own Raw Granola!
One thing I like the most about making your own granola is that it’s highly customisable. You can use whatever fruits, nuts or seeds you have in hand and adjust them to your liking. I will include all the substitutions and suggestions in the recipe below so don’t worry! 😚There are no rules when it comes to granola making. Just do what you want and have fun! 🙆🏻♀️
No Dehydrator. No Problem!
If you don’t have a dehydrator yet, don’t worry! I’ve got your back 💕 Simply spread the mixture evenly to a baking tray lined with silicon baking mat, bake at the lowest possible temperature until the surface is dry to the touch. Flip and then bake until it becomes crispy. This method works for people who are not strictly raw, but still want to try making their own raw granola 🙆🏻♀️
Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Mocha Raw Granola (Sprouted, Gut-friendly)
Course: BreakfastCuisine: Raw VeganDifficulty: Medium10
minutesIngredients
1 cup dried fruits*
2 1/2 cups raw activated buckwheat groats
1/4 cup chia seeds or flax seeds (soak in water for 8-12 hours in 3/4 cup purified water)
1 cup hazelnuts (soaked for 8-12 hours)**
1/2 cup tigernuts (soaked for 8-12 hours)**
1 ripe mango***
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/4 cup ground herbal coffee****
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp maca powder (optional)
Pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup goji berries*****
1 cup dehydrated orange slices*****
Directions
- The night before you wish to make this raw granola. Soak the nuts and seeds in water as indicated above.
- In a food processor, pulse the soaked hazelnuts and tigernuts until they are slightly chopped.
- Place the mango, 1 cup of dried fruits of your choice, raw cacao powder, cinnamon, maca and sea salt in a high-speed blender and blend until everything is super smooth. You may need to add some water to the mixture, depending what fruits you are using. The consistency should be pourable, similar to that of yogurt.
- Add the activated buckwheats, chia seed gel, pulsed nuts and fruit puree in a large mixing bowl. Mix everything well.
- Evenly spread 3 cups of the granola batter onto a dehydrator tray.
- Dehydrate for 8 hours at 40ºC. Flip and continue to dehydrate for another 8-10 hours. Or until it was dried and crispy. As I said, if you don’t have a dehydrator, bake it at the lowest possible temperature in your oven until the surface is dry to the touch. Flip and then bake until it becomes crispy.
- Crumble the granola into small chunks and store in an air-tight container for up to 1 month at room temperature, 3 months in the fridge, or up to 6 months in the freezer.
- Enjoy with vegan yogurt, on their own, or as toppings on smoothie bowls 💕
Notes
- * You can use any dried fruits of your choice, here I used a mixture of apricots and longan, but you can use any dried fruits such as dates or figs.
- ** Feel free to replace them with any nuts or seeds you prefer. If you are replacing them with seeds, you only have to soak the seeds for 4-6 hours.
- *** You can literally use any kinds of fruits here. I have tried using pears and apples and they work really well too!
- **** I used this to make it taste like mocha flavored granola☕. But since herbal coffee is not strictly raw (contains roasted dandelion roots and carobs), you can omit it. I would personally recommend using as it TASTES SO GOOD 💃
- ***** Similar to above, you can replace it with whatever dried fruits you want, or you can even omit it. It adds an extra sweetness and fruitiness to the granola. And I personally like the combination of chocolate and orange.
