I liked my millet pilaf so much the other day that I decided to try the same thing with oats. Oats are harder to get to a pilaf texture.

• 4 small onions, coarsely chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 tbsp of curry powder
• Maybe a tsp of black pepper
• Some salt
• 1 sliced banana
• 1/2 pound of golden brown (not yellow) raisins
• 2 cups of oat flakes
• 5 cups of hot water

Grabbed a heavy frying pan, not one of those flimsy aluminum jobs. Something with a solid, thick bottom. Covered the bottom with sunflower oil. Poured in the oats. Very slowly heated, trying to coat every flake and slightly cook them. The purpose of this process was to try to end up with seperate flakes, not mush. Removed the flakes to a bowl after a while so I could continue using the same frying pan.

More oil. Soften the onions. Add the garlic, cook briefly till fragrant. Add the curry powder. Cook briefly. Add the oats, raisins, banana, hot water. Simmer.

Stir every 5 minutes to prevent the oats from sticking and burning on the bottom of the pan. Remove when oats are just past al dente.

In terms of getting separate flakes, this was a failure; I probably needed to cook them till they slightly changed color. In terms of flavor it was a complete success. Next time around I will try whole oats if I can find them, and probably use a couple of beaten eggs to see if if I can't get the groats to remain separate. That's a trick that Russians sometimes use with buckwheat kasha main dishes.