Making my own oat milk was easy and cheap
It's never been easier to find a plant milk substitute, but at double the price, it's not so easy to make the switch. Why not make your own?
AS World Vegan Day is celebrated today, there is no better time for me to share this t-oat-tally easy, cheap and delicious recipe for oat milk.
Before you call me out for ‘milking’ it, let me just say, I am no hard-and-fast vegan. I can’t even claim to be a vegetarian, but I do enjoy eating a vegetarian diet most of the time, for the environmental and health benefits.
That said, I have never been a big fan of dairy, and as I entered my 30s, my aversion to milk became a lot worse. My stomach begins to ache, my throat and ears are irritated and even the taste of dairy leaves me queasy.
With the vegan trend making its way into local supermarkets, it’s never been easier to find a plant milk substitute, but at double the price of cow’s milk, it’s not such an easy switch to make.
ALSO READ: What’s Cooking with Caxton – try this recipe from Mothwa Haven
While I tried my level best to make a litre of macadamia, soy or almond milk stretch through the four weeks of the month, I would end up drinking black coffee a lot of the time. Every now and then, I would wish for a cup of milky coffee, and that’s when I got to googling and discovered just how easy it is to make your own oat milk.
There are plenty of recipes online, with varying ratios of oats to water – I find the milk goes sour quite quickly, so I prefer to make small batches. Here is the one I use.
Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
4 cups water
Optional dates or vanilla essence
Method
Blend and strain the mixture.
More details…
I have divided the recipe by four for this batch of oat milk. I placed 1/4 cup of oats and 1 cup of water into a food processor. Some recipes call for rolled oats, which offer a more nutty flavour, but I just used the run-of-the-mill oats that work for porridge. If you want to be bougie, you can add a few dates in for sweetness or a few drops of vanilla essence for flavour.
2. Simply blend the oat and water mixture for about 30–45 seconds using a stick blender or food processor. Be careful not to over-blend as this can leave the milk with a bit of a slimy consistency.
3. Next, you will need to strain the mixture through a fine sieve or a clean piece of fabric. I wasn’t keen on all the mess, so I just used my coffee plunger. You can save the leftover oat ‘pulp’ to make oat cookies or perhaps add it to a batch of porridge before cooking.
4. That’s it! Your oat milk is ready. It will need to be refrigerated. It’s best to let it sit for a few hours before drinking it. I repurposed a glass bottle to store the oat milk in the fridge. A juice bottle or jar will work just as well. The milk will separate, so you will need to give it a good shake before use. Enjoy!
For more from Berea Mail, follow us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also follow us on Instagram.
