Oatmeal as an African swallow food.

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Did you know you can use Oatmeal as an African swallow food? Swallow meals are popular in Africa. They are not stand alone meals. They are complimentary to our African soups like Egusi soup, Okro soup to mention few.Swallow foods can either be made from fresh ingredients or from the same ingredients in flour form.

Some examples include but are not limited to

• Pounded yam swallow made from fresh boiled yams or from yam flour
• Plantain swallow made from fresh plantains or plantain flour
• wheat swallow from wheat flour
• Eba made from Processed cassava
•  Corn swallow made from fresh corns or corn flour (common in Ghana)

Most of these have high carbohydrate content, which is why oatmeal swallow became popular in recent years because it is gluten free and a lower carb option* it is also heart healthy and high in fiber.

It is readily available in the US and is easy to make so it’s a good substitute to our African swallow foods.

You can buy the already made oatmeal flour from the Stores but I prefer to make mine so I am sure it’s just the oats in it. To do that all you need is to blend the oats in a dry blender or food processor till it’s finely ground then you store in an airtight container.

Today’s recipe is for immediate use so we will be blending it wet and cooking immediately. Lets get started. Thanks for stopping by and we hope you give this easy recipe a try. Would love to hear from you if you give this a shot. I am also curious as to which is your favorite African swallow, leave a comment below and let us know.

See you in the kitchen..

Chichi?

*Oats may be a lower carb option but it’s not a strict low carb option which means it’s not keto friendly (LCHF). Oats are naturally gluten free but can get contaminated with gluten through processing facilities that process wheat. So if you are gluten free be sure to look at the label before buying.

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5 from 2 votes

Oatmeal Swallow

This is the regular traditional oats made into an African swallow food. This is the wet method. You can also make it into oat flour for same purpose.

Prep Time4 mins

Cook Time3 mins

Total Time7 mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: West African

Servings: 4

Calories: 150kcal

Author: Chichi Uguru

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Traditional Oats
• 3 Cups Warm water

Instructions

• Measure the Oats into the jar of your blender.
• Pour 3 cups of warm water into the blender.Allow to soak for about 45 secs to develop the stretch. Then blend till smooth.
• Pour into a 2 Quart sauce pan and place on a lit stove. Stir continuously until it comes together. (Please don't leave unattended, it will burn. )
• Allow to cool for about a minute then serve with any soup of your choice. You can wrap in sean wrap and put in warmer if not ready to serve. Enjoy!!!

Notes

• I like my oatmeal swallow to have some texture (like garri) so I don't blend it too smooth.
• If you want a very smooth texture, blend till it's very smooth or you blend it dry till it's finely ground.
• If you want it lighter/softer add an extra 1/2 cup of water while blending.
• Remember to let it cool after cooking. It may seem too soft but cooling down will thicken it.