Spiced fruits, nuts and seeds

Method
Prep:15min  ›  Cook:1hr  ›  Ready in:1hr15min 

1. Preheat the oven to 120°C (250°F, gas mark ½). Lightly crush the cardamom pods with a pestle and mortar, or the side of a large knife, and discard the husks. Place the tiny seeds in a spice mill or a pestle and mortar, together with the cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, and cumin and coriander seeds, and grind to a fairly fine powder.
2. Mix the ground spices with the ginger, egg white and oatmeal in a large bowl. Add the almonds, pecan halves, Brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, and toss well to coat them all evenly with the spice mixture.
3. Spread out the nuts and seeds on a large baking sheet in a single layer. Bake, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour or until lightly browned and crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheet.
4. Put the nuts and seeds in a bowl. Add the sultanas and cranberries, mixing well. The mixture is ready to serve, or it can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Some more ideas

*If you don't have a spice mill, you can use 1 tbsp curry powder instead of the whole spices.
Hot-spiced nuts and seeds: Add 1 garlic clove, crushed, and ½ tsp crushed dried chillies to the spice mixture. Use nuts and seeds only, omitting the sultanas and cranberries.
Sweet-spiced fruits, nuts and seeds: Replace all spices used in the main recipe with 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger and ½ tsp grated nutmeg. Stir these into the egg white and oats, and use to coat the nuts and seeds. Bake and cool. Mix with 55g (2oz) each chopped dried mango, dried cherries and chopped dried apple.

Health points

Almonds are a good source of unsaturated fat. They are also rich in vitamin E and provide protein, fibre and zinc.