Millet is a nutritious gluten-free cereal. In these recipes with millet, you will see that it combines well with a wide variety of ingredients.
- How to cook millet
- 3 very nutritious millet recipes
- 1. Millet timbale with pumpkin and dates (gluten-free)
- 2. Millet and heura skewers with glazed shiitakes
- 3. Millet biscuits with hazelnuts
Millet has a neutral flavor that integrates well into all kinds of recipes, both sweet and savory. It is native to Africa, although in Europe it has been used for centuries to make fermented beverages.
Today it is an essential cereal in any healthy cookbook, and especially gluten-free cuisine, in which recipes with millet are common, because it does not contain this protein that causes so many problems to some people.
Its nutritional value is unquestionable and another reason why it is worth learning how to make recipes with millet. It is cereal rich in lecithin, magnesium and phosphorus, a great combination for the brain, and also a great source of iron.
HOW TO COOK MILLET
To make your recipes with millet, you must first cook it. It is a cereal that does not cook evenly, so you may have some grains more cooked than others if you leave it just enough. Try it to leave it to your liking.
- Before cooking, wash it thoroughly under tap water and drain.
- Then it is recommended to toast it lightly in the pan, without burning.
- Once toasted, cook in hot water (three times its volume) and over low heat for about 20 minutes, or until it acquires a spongy texture.
You can use cooked millet in salads, in soups and creams, or as a cereal-based main course, with sautéed or boiled vegetables. It combines very well with sweet vegetables, and also with legumes, with which it is also nutritionally complemented.
With millet you can also make hamburgers or vegetable croquettes and even pizza doughs.
And, of course, you can also make sweet recipes, such as cakes or cookies.
3 VERY NUTRITIOUS MILLET RECIPES
We will start with a millet recipe in the form of a timpani, with pumpkin and dates, cauliflower and tofu. We will continue with very complete millet and heura skewers that are accompanied by a refreshing arugula, mango and avocado salad. And finally, we will see a sweet recipe for millet cookies. The first two recipes are gluten-free.
1. MILLET TIMBALE WITH PUMPKIN AND DATES (GLUTEN-FREE)
This millet recipe is gluten-free, easy and delicious. Millet combined with cauliflower serves as the basis for the cake or timpani, and is interspersed in the timpani with a pumpkin and date puree and a layer of tofu and miso.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE
- 200 g millet
- 600 ml water
- 250 ml soy milk
- 300 g cauliflower
- 1 onion
- 250 g pumpkin
- 20 g sprouted radishes
- 150 g boneless dates
- 150 g tofu
- 10 g miso
- nutmeg
- sesame
- extra virgin olive oil
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt
PREPARATION (45′):
- Peel and cut the onion and cauliflower into small pieces. In a pot with oil, sauté them.
- When they begin to brown, add the millet and give it a couple of turns, pour the water and 200 ml of soy milk. Let it cook for about 25 minutes.
- When the millet has absorbed all the liquid, add nutmeg to taste, salt and pepper and continue cooking for a few more minutes.
- Peel and cut the pumpkin, and sauté it in a pan with a little oil.
- Cut the dates into strips and add them. Cover the pan so that the steam cooks the pumpkin until soft.
- Then, pass it to a bowl and crush it with a fork.
- Boil the tofu, drain and crush along with the miso.
- With a hoop, create layers with the different mixtures and decorate with sprouts to taste.
2. MILLET AND HEURA SKEWERS WITH GLAZED SHIITAKES
With simple ingredients, well combined and cooked, you will prepare a dish of easy digestion and with all the nutrients you need. Knowing the nutritional characteristics of food, we can combine them to prepare dishes with nutritionally complete vegetable ingredients, with an optimal nutritional contribution greater than that obtained with products of animal origin. At the same time, they can be really light dishes that do not leave us heavy digestions for hours.
Here’s what has been made in this recipe, with millet, heura and sesame seeds:
- When we use whole grains, we give quality to the dishes: brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, barley, oats … and also millet. Whole grains are our allies to achieve fullness in our dishes, acquire the necessary amino acids and improve digestion.
- If we also complement cereals with legumes, we will maximize the assimilation of amino acids. Well combined, vegetable protein can be better than meat protein. For this we will take into account legumes and their derivatives: lentils, peas, chickpeas, beans, soy, tofu, tempeh and, more recently, heura, a type of protein obtained from soy that is very reminiscent of certain types of meat for its texture.
- For the same reason of enriching recipes with proteins and other necessary nutrients, such as some minerals and healthy fats, it is interesting to resort to some algae, seeds and nuts, as has been done in these millet skewers when adding sesame seeds.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE
- 100 g millet
- 150 ml vegetable broth
- 180 g of original Heura bites
- 20 g sesame seeds
- 160 g fresh shiitakes
- 20 ml tamari
- 25 g agave syrup
- oil, salt and pepper
For the salad
- 80 g arugula
- 1 large handle
- 1 avocado
PREPARATION (35 MINUTES + 15 MINUTES COOKING):
- Wash the millet several times until the water is completely clean.
- Cook it with the broth, first over high heat and when boiling, lower the heat to a minimum.
- Cook until it absorbs all the liquid.
- Let it cool and then form balls.
- On a skewer stick, place the original Heura bites alternating them with the millet balls with oil, salt and pepper, and bake them for about 12 minutes at 190 ºC.
- On the other hand, in a very hot pan, sauté the shiitakes, add the tamari and the agave and glaze syrup. The shiitakes should be with a “thick” sauce.
- Serve the skewers cold or hot, with the glazed shiitakes and the toasted sesame seeds as a topping. Accompany them with an arugula, mango and avocado salad.
3. MILLET BISCUITS WITH HAZELNUTS
Coconut sugar has been used as a sweetener to make these homemade cookies. This sugar has a low glycemic index, only improved by agave syrup and stevia. That is why it is tolerated by diabetics.
Coconut sugar curiously doesn’t taste like coconut. The reason is that it is not extracted from the fruit but from the flowers of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera).
Millet is used in the form of flakes and combined with whole wheat flour, so these biscuits are not gluten-free. If you want to make gluten-free millet cookies, you will find a recipe in this selection of easy and healthy gluten-free cookies.
INGREDIENTS FOR 20 COOKIES
- 100 g whole wheat flour
- 50 g millet flakes
- 65 g almond butter
- 50 g coconut sugar
- 15 g cornstarch
- 75 ml almond milk
- 15 g cornstarch
- 50 g chopped hazelnuts
- 1.5 g baking powder
- a pinch of salt
PREPARATION:
- Beat the butter and coconut sugar with a few rods.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until they are integrated.
- Form the cookies on baking paper and bake at 180 °C for 15-20 minutes.
You can make these cookies with nuts instead of hazelnuts if you prefer.
A recipe by Santi Avalos.
OTHER RECIPES WITH MILLET
You’ll also find these millet recipes in other articles:
- Braised cabbage with millet, in 5 vegan finger-licking pots.
- Millet burgers with sprouts, in 6 vegan burger recipes to make to taste.
- Millet balls with chickpeas, in 5 easy recipes rich in protein.
- Spicy millet with pumpkin and mushrooms, in 6 autumn vegetarian recipes that fill you with energy.
- Millet tarts stuffed with shiitake, on the festive menu to celebrate the beginning of the year.
- Millet muesli with almond milk, in 6 nutritious mueslis to start the day right.
