Bircher Muesli is one of those fantastic combinations of amazingly fresh and healthy ingredients that tastes too wonderful to be good for you.
It was invented by a Swiss doctor and nutritionist, who developed it for patients at his Zurich sanatorium at the turn of the last century as a way of shoehorning yet more raw fruit into their diets.
Bircher believed apples had cured him of jaundice as a young man, leaving him unfashionably evangelical, for his time, on the powers of fruit and vegetables. I can see his creation would be excellent fuel for a day yomping in the Swiss countryside (or indeed soaking up the sun in one’s underwear, as seems to have been popular in such establishments).
It is also a sound choice for anyone, hoping to see off the mid-morning munchies. Fresher and fruitier than the more familiar dry variety, Bircher muesli is the perfect way to start the day, especially now, at the height of the apple season.
I edited an Ottolenghi recipe I found in the Guardian to make it dairy free/vegan.
Ingredients
- 100g oats
- 2 tbsp. raisins
- 1 tbsp. sunflower seeds
- 1 tsp. ground cardamom/cinnamon
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 green apple
- 150ml almond milk
- 150ml apple juice
- 1 tbsp. grated coconut
Method
- Mix together the oats, raisins, sunflower seeds, cardamom and salt in a large bowl
- Leaving the peel on, core an apple and coarsely grate into the dry mixture
- Add the milk and apple juice
- Stir well, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge to soak overnight
- Grab in the morning for breakfast or in the evening for desert
