Having allergies or food intolerance is not fun wherever you live in the world. Living in Beijing elicits even more challenges: it's hard to read the words on the packaging and communication with servers in restaurants can be difficult. Gluten intolerance is one of the harder allergies since Beijing is filled with the great noodles and dumplings. International supermarkets sell gluten free products and Chinese supermarkets sell different flours without gluten, but it's hard to find, and may or not be in the supermarket. I have created this Granola recipe with ingredients bought from my favorite place to shop, the Sanyuanli Market. I have made this granola for months now and know stall 77 at the market is a reliable spot to get the ingredients. This is granola is especially good with some YeYo coconut yogurt, for those that are lactose intolerant.
Ingredients for Gluten Free Granola:
3 cups almond flour
1 cup almond flakes
2 cups coconut segment
1 cup cashews
1\2 cup seeds
1\2 cup coconut oil
1\4 cup honey
1\2 cup cia seeds
1 cup dried cranberry
Instructions:
1. Mix all the ingredients (excluding the cia seeds and dried cranberries) in a big bowl. The coconut oil and the honey will make the mixture clump together like granola.
2. Preheat the oven to 200 Celsuis.
3. Spread the mixture over a baking sheet, making sure the mixture is lumpy.
4. Bake for 3 minutes and mix, bake again for 3 minutes and mix again. Continue this cycle till all the granola is golden brown. Stay with it as its easily burned.
5. Add the cia seeds and dried cranberries into the bowl and add the cooked granola and mix together. Let the granola cool and keep in an air tight container.
The raw granola mixture
The baked Granola mixture
Cooked Granola with added cia seeds and cranberry
Pauline van Hasselt has been working for beijingkids since October 2016. Born in Wassenaar, The Netherlands, she moved with her husband and her 3 year-old daughter to Beijing in June of last year. Prior she lived in the Netherlands, Belgium, Paraguay, Texas, and London, studying and working as a chef. Pauline enjoys biking around Beijing, finding markets and new restaurants, reading crime and fantasy books in bed, and most importantly, turning her house into a home for her family.
Click on the blue Read more in the bottom left hand corner to access the linked material in this article on the beijingkids website, full of essential resources and community news.