Mormon Momma

My mom in her generosity gifted a huge brown bag full of organic millet to our family. Now to most people this gift would seem a bit strange, but not to me. If you only had the pleasure of knowing my mom. But more on that later in another post. I grew up on millet, steamed and eaten like hot cereal, and it was a traditional meal eaten during general conference weekend. However, I had never actually cooked millet myself. So now that I had this big bag I thought I would brew up a batch. How hard could it be? My kids and I eat 7-grain cereal most mornings, I’m a fan of steamed brown rice, and I watched my mom make it numerous times, so I confidently got out my pan and started the boiling water. I really turned on the enthusiasm while I was preparing breakfast that morning, recounting to the kids various memories of breakfasts my mom used to make and about how much we as kids all loved millet, as would they.

My kids looked at me like I was trying to poison them when I gave them big bowls of it mixed with a little milk and honey. Their worst fears were confirmed when they actually took a bite (after many threats and bribes) and tried to chew on the hard little kernels. With pained expressions they showed their disgust by chewing as fast as they could and with open mouths, filling the kitchen with a noise that sounded like they were eating corn nuts.

I thought they were exaggerating until I tried a spoonful of my own bowl of millet. I admit the poor results were not too surprising. I had no idea how to really cook it and just guessed on the proportions of millet to liquid, apparently confirming again to my kids and husband that I’m not so great at numbers. More than a month has gone by, and the brown bag still sits on my counter. Every so often I find Tyson sneaking to the bag to dip his hands in and let the tiny balls run through his fingers.

With that background in place, I give you now the fruit of my search and experimentation for ways to use this nutritious food, now confident that I can prepare it in a way that is healthy and delicious. If you have never used millet or don’t know much about it, give it a try, as it is high in many essential amino acids and is a great alternative to rice. The grain kernels are very small, round, and usually ivory colored or yellow, though some varieties are darker. The lack of gluten and a rather bland flavor may account for the anonymity of this grain here in the United States, but it’s alkaline content is higher than other grains and makes it one of the most easily digestible grains available. It also has a higher iron content than any other grain but amaranth. It swells a great deal when cooked and supplies more servings per pound than any other grain. When cooked it yields a fluffy cereal high in protein, iron, magnesium and potassium. If you want to store millet in your food storage, it can be kept for over two years in air tight containers.

In it’s most basic form, steamed, one cup of dry millet yields three cups of cooked. This is one of the more mush-inclined grains, but if you follow these directions, you stand a good chance of having differentiated millet particles instead of paste.

Cooked Millet

1 cup millet
3 cups water or chicken broth
1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Bring water or broth to a boil by itself first. Then add margarine or butter and sprinkle in the millet. Stir briefly, and partially cover. Turn heat to low. Cook for about 30 minutes. Stir with a fork halfway through cooking and again at the end. This is the best deterrent to mushiness. If you want your millet more moist and dense, increase the water to 3 ½ cups and keep the lid on after cooking for about 10 minutes.

Amount Per Serving:

Calories 188
Calories from Fat 21

Amount per Serving % Daily Value

Total Fat 2 g 4%
Saturated Fat 0 g 2%
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 4 mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 36 g 12%
Dietary Fiber 1 g 2%
Sugars 0 g
Protein 6 g

Okay, moving on to millet muffins, a great recipe and chuck full of nutrition. Notice how it is full of whole grains, no sugar, and fairly easy!! Don’t be scared by lack of sugar, these are really yummy and make a great base recipe. Throw in some dried cranberries, applesauce, cinnamon, walnuts, or other additions to add flavor and variety. Replace the oil with applesauce if you want to go all the way with making this the perfect healthy muffin! Give it a try! They turn out a little like cornbread muffins, and are delightfully crumbly. My taste testers reported they liked them with a little butter and jam. A few of the testers didn’t care so much for the texture, others on the other hand (myself included) loved the little crunchies.

Millet Muffins

2 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C milled flax seed
1/3 C millet (raw)
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 C buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C honey

Preheat oven to 400°. Grease 12 muffin cups. In a large bowl mix the whole wheat flour, flax, millet, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix the buttermilk, egg, vegetable oil, and honey. Stir buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture just until evenly moist. Transfer batter to muffin cups that have been greased. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Serve plain or with butter and jam.

Calories: 176
Total Fat: 7.8 g
Cholesterol: 14 mg
Sodium: 261 mg
Total Carbs: 24.8 g
Fiber 2.4 g
Protein 3.7 g

For Sunday dinner I made Korean Barbequed Steaks and served it over steamed millet and found it a nice change to rice. I also added 1/3 raw millet and 1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds to my usual recipe for whole wheat bread and it turned out really well. Here are a couple of other recipes you might have fun trying.

Millet Casserole

4 C cooked millet
1/4 C finely chopped celery
1/2 C finely chopped onion
1/2 t vegetable seasoning
2 C diluted cream (1 part heavy cream to 3 parts water) (I use half & half)
4 eggs, well beaten
1 1/2 C grated medium cheddar cheese

To well beaten eggs, add cream, chopped vegetables, seasoning and 1 cup cheese. Stir well into millet, pour into casserole and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup cheese and paprika. Dot with butter and bake at 325° for 30 minutes or until firm.

Millet Spoon Bread

1 C raw millet
2 C water
2 C milk
1 T butter
1 t salt
6 eggs, separated and beaten well separately
Chopped pecans or walnuts

Bring millet and water to a boil. Let set 1/2 hour. Add milk and cook 30 minutes. Add butter and salt. Cool about 5 minutes. Add beaten yolks and fold in beaten whites. Turn into 8 x 8 inch greased casserole. Top with nuts. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Serve with syrup.