My bowl of oatmeal just keeps getting better! I am sure you know by now we are Team Oatmeal and it is never dull here. I am told many reasons why one doesn't like to have oats - oatmeal is boring, never filling, leaving you still hungry, so bland, etc. Enter creamy oatmeal topped with brown butter toasted nuts and fruits! Butter makes everything better but Brown butter makes everything betterest (best)! You can sense how excited I am, right?
This is not my original idea. I had gone to stay with my brother for a week when my mom had come here last year-end. He had a baby boy just a few weeks old so my sister-in-law was having all the post-pregnancy food and this was one of them. She makes oats, then fries the nuts and dry fruits in ghee and pours it over the bowl of oats! It blew my mind! I mean, I have been adding butter and cream but this is even more delicious! I still prefer butter and wanted to save the ghee for my usual cooking. So, I decided to use butter and it became brown butter while I was multi-tasking! Guess what, accidentally got brown butter toasted nuts and immediately my face lit up! Remember my brown butter chocolate cookies? Exactly my thoughts! This is it! I have been making my oats like this since then! so will you, trust me!
a quick recap for the newcomers...
What is brown butter?
Brown butter is the result of slow cooking the regular butter, salted or unsalted. The French call it beurre noisette and they use it in both savoury and sweet dishes as a sauce. The melting method gently cooks the butter and turns the milk solids into brown bits while evaporating all the water present in the butter. This develops a nutty flavour and toasted aroma making it liquid gold in the culinary world. Browned butter has a deeper, richer, and more intense flavour than melted or clarified butter or ghee. You have to use all of the brown bits of milk solids which means you don't have to strain the butter.
The process of making brown butter starts with solid butter, salted or unsalted. From butter you make clarified butter, a little more cooking takes it to the ghee stage, and further cooking takes you to the brown butter stage.
Can I use ghee?
You need butter to make brown butter - you cannot make brown butter with ghee because the milk solids are already strained off. But you may use ghee instead of brown butter like my sister-in-law does. It is not the same as brown butter but you will still love it because - ghee! 🙂
This is more of a guide than a recipe so leaving you all with my spectacular oatmeal bowl pictures that will brighten your day! If you make this and loved it like us, do let me know in the comments section below.
Fruits that you can roast in brown butter
All kinds of stone fruits are best when roasted. You can even roast some berries and grapes! Here are some ideas:
- Apricot
- Cherries
- Nectarines
- Peaches
- Plums
- all kinds of grapes
- Pears
- Apples
- Berries
- Ripe plantains
- Bananas
I have roasted apricots, green grapes, apples, and pears. I prefer to keep my bananas fresh and pomegranate cold so they are added at the end. But you can do however you like there is no hard and fast rule in making oatmeal!
Oatmeal Bowl Topped with Brown Butter Toasted Nuts and Fruits
This recipe is for two people where one has a better appetite! 🙂
INGREDIENTS
For oatmeal:
- 1 cup oats (any kind)
- 2 cups water (or as per pack instructions)
- a pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream (whipping cream)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder or cardamom powder
- Sweetener of choice (sugar, honey, stevia, coconut sugar, jaggery, etc.)
For brown butter toasted nuts and fruits:
- 2 tablespoons butter (20 to 28gms)
- 10 to 14 almonds or cashews or walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.
- 8 to 10 black raisins or dry fruits
Others:
- Seeds (chia, pumpkin, flax, sesame, etc)
- You may roast some chopped apples or pear or peach or nectarine or green grapes or ripe plantains in the brown butter before adding to the bowl (you get the idea?)
- Any fresh seasonal fruits to top the bowl
- remaining brown butter
- honey or maple syrup or date syrup
INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare the oatmeal:
- Boil oats and water with a dash of salt until cooked completely.
- Switch off and stir in the cream, sweetener and cinnamon or cardamom powder and cover keep for a few minutes.
- Divide the oatmeal into two or three serving bowls. Let it cool to a temperature you like to eat.
Prepare brown butter toasted nuts and fruits:
- Add the butter into a small deep pot similar to the Turkish coffee pot (this will ensure good depth with little butter, as opposed to a flat pan where the butter will be a thin layer and chances of nuts getting burnt, is high.) Heat the butter over a medium flame until melted.
- Add the nuts of your choice and let it toast until the butter starts to foam. This is a good sign! Use a spoon and stir the nuts to ensure they are toasted evenly. Once the nuts have acquired toasted colour, remove the nuts and keep them aside.
- Add the dry fruits of your choice and fry until plump. Remove and keep them along with the nuts. You may continue with roasting some chopped fruits like apricot, apple, pear or whole green grapes, etc. in the brown butter before topping the oats bowl. Just saute the fruits for a couple of minutes. But this is optional but I highly recommend it!
- Switch off and remove the pan from the hob.
Top the oatmeal bowl:
- Place the brown butter toasted nuts, dry fruits and fresh fruits over both oatmeal bowls in an attractive way (or not). Additionally, add any seeds of your choice like chia or pumpkin, etc.
- Pour the remaining brown butter with all of its browned milk solid bits over both bowls. This is gold!
- Drizzle honey or maple syrup and serve immediately. You are welcome!
Check out my basic Oatmeal recipe or go for a cold breakfast and try the easy overnight oats!
If you have tried and loved this recipe then please do share it with your friends and family. Also, don't forget to follow me on Instagram and mention @butfirstchaai or tag #butfirstchaiblog so that I can see your creations!
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!