Thick yoghurt with sesame granola, silan and tahini

Name: Thick yoghurt with sesame granola, silan and tahini
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Israeli and Mediterranean
Ingredients: 60 g Rolled oats (¾ of a 250 ml cup (about 10 heaped tbsp), jumbo rolled oats); 25 g Whole unblanched almonds (about 20, roughly chopped with a knife); 10 g Sesame seeds (1 tbsp); 25 g Honey (1 heaped tbsp); 10 g Extra virgin olive oil (1 tbsp mild, fruity olive oil); 22 g Tahini (raw sesame paste) (8 g (1 heaped tsp) in the granola, then 7 g (1 tsp) over each bowl; pure tahini, stirred well in the jar); 0.5 g Fine salt (1 pinch, in the granola); 250 g Labneh, 5% fat (250 g pot) (1 × 250 g pot); 150 g Plain yoghurt, 3% fat (150 g pot) (1 × 150 g pot); 16 g Silan (date syrup) (1 heaped tsp (8 g) over each bowl); 100 g Pomegranates (the seeds from half a pomegranate, about 100 g prepared weight (a 350 g pomegranate yields about 200 g)); 0.5 g Fleur de sel (1 pinch over the tahini, or use fine salt)

dairy breakfast · Israeli and Mediterranean · 2/5 · easy · 45 min, including 15 hands-on

A bowl from the cafés of Tel Aviv: labneh mellowed with yoghurt, homemade crunchy almond and sesame granola clusters bound with honey, olive oil and tahini, then a drizzle each of silan and tahini, a pinch of fleur de sel and pomegranate seeds.

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan (170°C conventional). On a chopping board, roughly chop each almond into 3 or 4 pieces with a chef’s knife. In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, almonds, sesame seeds and pinch of salt.
In a small bowl, warm the honey, olive oil and 8 g tahini in the microwave for 20 seconds, or in a small saucepan over a low heat for 1 minute. Whisk with a fork until smooth and runny. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula for 1 minute, scraping the bottom, until all the oats glisten.
Tip onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and spread over an area of about 20 × 30 cm, rather than the whole tray, to a thickness of 4–5 mm. Press down firmly with the back of the spatula to form a compact slab: this is what creates the clusters. Bake for 18–20 minutes without stirring, rotating the tray half a turn after 10 minutes. First check at 14 minutes: if the edges are darkening, lower the temperature to 150°C. Take out when the entire surface is light golden, the edges are amber and the kitchen smells of toasted almonds and sesame.
Leave to cool untouched on the tray for 10 minutes: the slab will still be soft when it comes out of the oven and will harden as it cools. Meanwhile, halve the pomegranate and wrap one half in cling film to keep in the fridge for the next day. Hold the other half cut-side down over a bowl and tap the skin with the back of a wooden spoon to release the seeds; remove the little pieces of white membrane. In a bowl, stir the labneh and yoghurt with a spoon until thick, smooth and glossy.
Divide the labneh cream between two bowls, making a slight hollow in the centre. Break the cold granola by hand into 1–2 cm pieces and add about 60 g to each bowl, then scatter over the pomegranate seeds, about 50 g per bowl. Finish each bowl with 1 tsp tahini and 1 heaped tsp silan, drizzled in crossing lines, and a pinch of fleur de sel over the tahini. Serve immediately so the granola stays crunchy on the cool cream.

Variants and their steps remain below the recipe.

Lighter version

How the taste changes:

Le bol contient moins de bouchées de granola croustillant et moins de notes grillées d'amande et de sésame. Sans tahini en finition, le labné et le yaourt paraissent plus acidulés face au silan et à la grenade.

Rolled oats : 42 g
Whole unblanched almonds : 18 g
Sesame seeds : 7 g
Honey : 18 g
Extra virgin olive oil : 7 g
Tahini (raw sesame paste) : 6 g
Fleur de sel : removed

In steps 1 and 2, reduce the granola by a third: 42 g oats, 18 g almonds, 7 g sesame seeds, 18 g honey, 7 g oil and 6 g tahini. Spread over about 20 × 20 cm and bake for 16–18 minutes.

In step 5, serve about 45 g granola per bowl and finish with silan alone, without tahini or fleur de sel.

A third less granola and no tahini to finish: the labneh cream, pomegranate and silan retain all the bowl’s character. Using reduced-fat labneh saves about another hundred kilocalories for two.

On your plate

Recipe

582 kcal · protein 25 g · carbs 51 g · fat 29 g

Quantities per person

30 g Rolled oats
12.5 g Whole unblanched almonds
5 g Sesame seeds
12.5 g Honey
5 g Extra virgin olive oil
11 g Tahini (raw sesame paste)
0.25 g Fine salt
125 g Labneh, 5% fat (250 g pot)
75 g Plain yoghurt, 3% fat (150 g pot)
8 g Silan (date syrup)
50 g Pomegranates
0.25 g Fleur de sel

Cooking tips

The best way to use this recipe is to make a batch for the week. Triple the granola quantities: 180 g oats, 75 g almonds, 30 g sesame seeds, 75 g honey, 30 g olive oil, 24 g tahini and 1.5 g salt, a generous pinch. Press over a whole 30 × 40 cm tray and bake for 22–25 minutes at the same oven temperature, without stirring. Once completely cool, break it up and keep in an airtight jar for 10 days: it makes three breakfasts for two, and on subsequent mornings the bowl takes 5 minutes to assemble. According to the season, replace the pomegranate with quartered fresh figs in summer or orange segments with the membranes removed in winter. Alternatively, wash an apple, quarter it, remove the core with the tip of a knife and dice into 1 cm pieces with the skin on just before serving, then sprinkle with a few drops of lemon juice. For even larger clusters, add 1 tbsp beaten egg white (15 g) to the mixture before pressing it down. The remaining white keeps in a small sealed container in the fridge for 3 days; use the yolk in an omelette the same day.

Equipment : oven, baking tray, baking paper, chopping board and chef’s knife, mixing bowl, small bowl for the honey, oil and tahini, spatula, wooden spoon, 2 serving bowls

The granola and yoghurt served in Israeli cafés in Tel Aviv, with thick cultured dairy, silan and tahini; homemade granola with olive oil and sesame.

Thick yoghurt with sesame granola, silan and tahini

Method

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On your plate

Recipe

Cooking tips

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60 g	Rolled oats ¾ of a 250 ml cup (about 10 heaped tbsp), jumbo rolled oats
25 g	Whole unblanched almonds about 20, roughly chopped with a knife
10 g	Sesame seeds 1 tbsp
25 g	Honey 1 heaped tbsp
10 g	Extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp mild, fruity olive oil
22 g	Tahini (raw sesame paste) 8 g (1 heaped tsp) in the granola, then 7 g (1 tsp) over each bowl; pure tahini, stirred well in the jar
0.5 g	Fine salt 1 pinch, in the granola
250 g	Labneh, 5% fat (250 g pot) 1 × 250 g pot
150 g	Plain yoghurt, 3% fat (150 g pot) 1 × 150 g pot
16 g	Silan (date syrup) 1 heaped tsp (8 g) over each bowl
100 g	Pomegranates the seeds from half a pomegranate, about 100 g prepared weight (a 350 g pomegranate yields about 200 g)
0.5 g	Fleur de sel 1 pinch over the tahini, or use fine salt