By Mel Brown, fertility nutritionist
I love seed crackers because you just mix things together until you get the texture you want and then cook them, and they are so full of goodness. They go with avocado and chopped eggs for breakfast, or with hummus, tapenade or cottage cheese for lunch. You can make them into croutons for your salad or to drop into a bowl of hot or cold soup for lunch. Seeds are exceptionally rich in nutrients important for fertility like zinc, magnesium, vitamin E, omega fatty acids, protein and fibre.
Ingredients
- 100g chickpea or buckwheat flour
- 160g mixed seeds like sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, poppy, flax and chia
- 180mls of boiling water (don’t forget to reduce the water if adding juice pulp).
- A tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- A tablespoon of tahini sesame seed paste
- Any of the following, or none! Dried herbs, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, turmeric powder
- Preheat oven to 140 degrees
- Mix everything together by hand in a bowl and set aside for 15 minutes to come together.
- Bring the mixture together in a ball, adding a bit more flour if too wet or water if too dry.
- Put the seed ball on a square of grease proof baking paper brushed with olive oil, and lay another oiled piece of paper on top.
- Roll out ball until quite thin and even, into a rectangular shape, remove the top layer and cut to size and shape.
- Place the paper with the crackers on the oven rack and bake for 35 minutes until golden. Do check them as ovens vary and you want them light and crisp and golden, not soggy (undercooked) and not brown (well, burnt!)
- Remove and allow to cool when they will become crispy. Store in an airtight container.
Method
There are various ways of making seed crackers and they all work pretty well. The main thing is making sure to include either flax seed powder or chia seed powder or both and water as this is what will make them stick together. You can then add any other seeds you like, and flavoursome seeds like caraway, cumin or fennel, or dried herbs. If you have pulp leftover from juicing (green or carrot) add that too and reduce the water. You can always keep adding a bit more seed powder or flour if too wet and water or tahini if too dry.