What is it?

Millet is an itsy bitsy, ancient cereal that has a slightly nutty flavour and that serves a variety of purposes. It is most often cooked in water (just like rice) and used in both sweet and savory dishes. Millet seed also appears in bird food, although it is suitable for human consumption as well.

Millet boasts being gluten-free and rich in protein, fiber, and in a variety of vitamins and minerals.

How do I cook it?

Before cooking millet, make sure to sort and rinse the grains in water first. To cook millet, place 1 cup millet in a medium-sized pot and add 2 cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, stir, and reduce to low heat. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed and the millet is cooked. Yield: 3 cups.

Aside from the traditional method of preparing millet, it can also be toasted in the oven and then cooked, although I do not prefer this method as it requires more work and in the recipes that use millet in The Healthaliciously Good Cookbook, the millet will end up being baked later on in the recipe.

Where can I buy it?

Millet can be bought at health food stores, bulk food stores, and superstores. If you live in Moncton, NB, you can find it at Sequoia (you can also buy The Healthaliciously Good Cookbook here), Bulk Barn, Corn Crib Natural Foods, and Atlantic Superstore.

In which recipes in The Healthaliciously Good Cookbook is it used?

Millet is used in only two recipes in The Healthaliciously Good Cookbook, which are Cranberry Apricot Cookies and Millet Cipolla Pizza, although suggestions for using millet instead or rice in certain dishes are given.

In the Cranberry Apricot Cookies recipe, 2 tbsp dry millet are stirred into the cookie dough and baked in the oven. The millet adds crunch and flavour to the cookies and replaces the nuts* that we see in most traditional cookies.

*While nuts are very healthy foods that can be enjoyed by most people in small quantities, nuts can be deadly for someone who is allergic to them and since cookies are often brought as snacks or desserts at public events, I chose to use millet instead of nuts in the Cranberry Apricot Cookies recipe.

In the Millet Cipolla Pizza, millet is cooked up in a rich, flavorful broth, formed into a pizza crust, topped with an onion mixture (thus, the name “Cipolla” which means onion in the Italian language), and then baked in the oven. Since millet is small and sticky when cooked up with the broth mixture specified in the recipe, it is ideal for this non-traditional pizza crust which is free of gluten.

What can I use instead of millet in a recipe?

The answer to this question depends on the recipe you are making.

In a recipe like the Cranberry Apricot Cookies recipe, in which the millet is baked and not simmered in water, the millet can be left out all together or substituted with an equal amount of a nut of your choice, such as chopped pecans.

In a recipe like the Millet Cipolla Pizza recipe, in which millet is simmered over the stove, the millet can be replaced with an equal amount of brown rice or quinoa, another ancient grain.