Thick, chewy bars of toasted millet rava, oats and pumpkin seeds bound in jaggery and peanut butter, cut into slabs that hold their edge.
Ingredients
From the TrooFoodz pantry
Fresh
- Rolled oats 1½ cups
- Almonds, roughly chopped ½ cup
- Pumpkin seeds ¼ cup
- Sunflower seeds ¼ cup
- White sesame seeds 2 tbsp
- Jaggery, grated 150 g
- Unsweetened peanut butter 3 tbsp
- Coconut oil 2 tbsp
- Cinnamon powder 1 tsp
- Salt ½ tsp
Method
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Toast the dry mix
Spread Sprouted Foxtail Millet Rava, oats, almonds and seeds on a tray and toast at 180C for ten minutes, stirring once, until nutty and just coloured.
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Cook the syrup
Melt the jaggery with two tablespoons of water and bring it to 115C — soft-ball stage, where a drop in cold water gathers into a pliable ball. Under-cooked syrup gives bars that sag.
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Finish the binder
Off the heat, beat in the peanut butter, coconut oil, cinnamon and salt until the syrup is smooth and glossy and pours in a thick ribbon.
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Combine fast
Tip the hot dry mix straight into the syrup and fold hard for thirty seconds. The syrup stiffens as it cools, so hesitation costs you an even coating.
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Press with force
Pack into a lined 20 cm tin and compress with the base of a glass until the surface goes flat and glassy. Bars that crumble were bars that were not pressed hard enough.
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Bake to set
Bake at 170C for fifteen minutes until the edges darken. The centre will still feel soft — that is correct.
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Cool fully, then cut
Leave in the tin at least two hours until stone cold, then cut with a serrated knife in a single long stroke rather than sawing.
Why this works
Soft-ball jaggery is the pivot: below it the syrup stays sticky and the bars slump, above it the sugar turns brittle and the bars snap apart at the first bite. Peanut butter adds fat and protein that keep the set chewy rather than glassy. Pressing hard removes air pockets, which are where a granola bar fractures.
Make it your own
- Sprouted Foxtail Millet Rava → Sprouted Little Millet Rava Finer grain, slightly softer bar.
- Peanut butter → Tahini More bitter and savoury against the jaggery.
- Pumpkin seeds → Chopped dried apricots Chewier and fruitier; reduce the jaggery slightly.
