I had posted a photograph of this millet cake a few days ago with the promise of a forthcoming recipe… Finally I get to it. I did  not mean to be a tease.  It makes for a very nutritious meal that gets made in about 30 minutes.

If you have never used millet before you are in for a treat.  If you do not eat gluten, then you most probably already consume millet as it is a grain (actually it is really a seed) with none of the gluten protein.  It has a nutty flavour and a host of health properties ranging from probiotic properties, mood regulation through the provision of serotonin, it is alkaline so it helps to regulate our body’s pH, …

Make this millet cake like a corn cake, as a side with all types of stews.  You can substitute millet for rice, or quinoa in a lot of recipes too.

I am giving you here the recipe according to Jean Georges Vongerichten, but I like to often change the ingredients to make it dairy free, substituting butter with coconut oil.  The “cheese” sauce I make with almond milk, no cheese, and a pinch of paprika, and oil instead of butter too.

This cake serves 4, but it can be doubled easily.

 

Ingredients

210 g millet

salt

40 grams butter soft or melted

2 eggs

2 yolks

60g milk

ground black pepper

grapes or neutrally flavoured oil

 

300g vegetables for steaming, washed

100g chorizo sliced

Cheese sauce (Thermomix The Basic Cookbook)

 

1. In a medium saucepan combine your millet, 420g water, pinch of salt and cover.  Cook for about 20 minutes on medium heat until the water is absorbed.  Turn off the heat with the lid still on and let it rest for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile turn the oven on at 260C and make your cheese sauce following the recipe in the Basic Cookbook.  This will take about 7 minutes.  I first grate a bit of cheddar, then add all the sauce ingredients and cook following instructions.  When finished decant to a little jug.
3. Now steam your vegetables.  No need to wash the bowl.  Place your vegetables in the Varoma tray, place 1 litre of water in the Thermomix bowl and stream for 15 minutes, Varoma, Speed 2. This not only steams your veggies but it will help clean your TM bowl!
4. When the vegetables are ready set them aside and check your millet.
5.  Add your butter, whole eggs, yoke, milk and salt and pepper to taste to the millet.
6. Place a 20-25 cm ovenproof skillet, preferably non stick, over high heat, add the oil, and when it smokes, pour in the batter and cook for about 3 minutes, or until the edges firm up a bit and some bubbles appear in the middle.  Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until firm on top about 10 minutes.
7. To serve, invert onto a plate so the crisp and prettier side is up.  On the same skillet, quickly fry (no need to add oil) the slices of chorizo, place the veggies on top of the millet cake, drizzle with some cheese sauce, and when they are a little crispy, put the chorizo on top.