Please help me cook my Whole Oat Groats the way I like them: chewy not mushy.

minizebu

Behold the oatmeal continuum:

powdery instant oatmeal--->old fashioned rolled oats--->steel cut oats--->whole oat groats

I bought some whole oat groats and have been cooking them according to the package directions (or so I thought): 3 cups water & 1/4 tsp salt to one cup whole oat groats, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 60 minutes.

But, alas, I must not have been following the directions exactly every time, because I've only achieved my desired consistency on one occasion.

I like my oat groats to remain whole, intact and chewy like a cooked wheat berry or like cooked brown rice, not like mushy oatmeal. If I'm going to end up with mush, then I might as well be starting out with rolled or steel cut oats.

Obviously, I did something differently the one time that I achieved chewy whole groats. Either I cooked it for a shorter time, or I used more or less water, or I used more or less salt. I'm not sure which. My subsequent experimentation has not hit upon the answer.

Does anyone else have experience with achieving the texture I'm looking for in my whole oats? If so, please let me know your secret.

Thanks!

mathandcats

I've never made whole groats, but I eat a lot of steel cut oats. I know that if I cook them for 15-20 minutes, they come out chewy, but after 25-30 they are much mushier. The water amount doesn't seem to matter so much for the texture, it just affects how thick or thin the result is. If groats are anything like this, I would start by reducing the cooking time. Taste a spoonful now and then to see if they are the way you want them.

ytsirhcc

I add water and oats (old fashioned) to pan. I cook as directed but I never stir them. I let them come to a gentle boil, reduce heat to low and cover. When finished I let cool in pan with the lid off. They come out whole and cooked perfectly every time.

espibunn

Try this recipe for overnight groats. I like them this way and they are chewy.
http://foodbabe.com/2011/08/21/the-perfect-parfait-porridge/

minizebu

Eureka! I have found it.

It turns out that the answer to my problem was right on the package of oat groats. There was a recipe for "Oat Groat Pilaf". I figured that it would have to turn out more like a rice pilaf than like gelatinous oatmeal, so I tried following the cooking instructions, but without the other ingredients.



So, I toasted the groats in a pan for about 3 minutes. (I just sprayed it with cooking spray to keep them from sticking. I didn't use a whole teaspoon of oil. It worked fine and there was no sticking.)

Then, since I wasn't actually making a pilaf, I skipped all the other ingredients, added 2 cups of water and some salt, brought it to a boil, covered the pan, reduced the heat, and simmered the groats for 35 minutes. I had set the timer for 40, but at the 35 minute mark I opened the lid on a whim and they actually seemed fully cooked.

Voilà! Cooked oat groats that are tender and chewy, but haven't split open and become a gooey mess. The texture is more like cooked brown rice or a cooked wheat berry than mushy oatmeal. Hooray!

TeaBea

mathandcats wrote: »

I've never made whole groats, but I eat a lot of steel cut oats. I know that if I cook them for 15-20 minutes, they come out chewy, but after 25-30 they are much mushier. The water amount doesn't seem to matter so much for the texture, it just affects how thick or thin the result is. If groats are anything like this, I would start by reducing the cooking time. Taste a spoonful now and then to see if they are the way you want them.

This^

The longer they cook, the softer they will be.