Sesame Cucumber Spring Vegan Millet Recipe
Light, bright and green, this vegan millet recipe combines the nutty flavor of millet with sesame and sunflower seeds. Green onions, cucumber, and peas add those fresh spring flavors. Add a little garlic and ginger, and you’ve got a dish! This is a great side dish, and would be perfect with some pan fried vegan fish, or paired with another couple great salads, or enjoy with sautéed vegetables. No matter how you eat it, this dish will bring a bit of the brightness of spring to your plate.
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All About Millet
Millet are grass seeds, and while it’s often used as non-human animal feed it makes great feed for human animals as well! It has a short growing season, grows well in hot and dry conditions and has been grown by humans for at least 7,000 years. It was originally domesticated in Africa and Asia, and still today the vast majority of millet grown is grown in those areas. Millet is naturally gluten free, and when cooked like I did in this recipe it works wonderfully as an alternative to couscous. There are technically many different types of millet, but the vast majority of it is pearl millet. It has a lovely nutty flavor and get’s nice and fluffy! Millet is fairly high in protein for a grain, and contains the highest amount of calcium of any commonly eaten cereal crop. Like any whole grain, it’s always a good and healthy choice! When cooking millet, I use a 2:1 water to millet ratio, but always make sure to toast the millet first to get the best flavor in our dish.
Looking for Gluten Free Vegan Grain Recipes? Try one of these!
- Maitake and Wild Rice Thanksgiving Salad
- Gluten-Free Vegan Bars with Teff and Chocolate
- Vegan Oat Pancakes with Peaches (GF)
- Crispy Sesame Spiced Tahini Quinoa
- Cream of Rice: Homemade Vegan Gluten Free Cereal
- Vegan Millet Porridge with Persimmon and Chia
- Vegan Brown Rice Congee with Jackfruit and Mushrooms
How to Make this Vegan Millet Recipe
There are not really any tricks to this recipe, its just about cooking millet and mixing it up. To cook the millet, I start by toasting it. As it toasts, it will start to become fragrant. Stand over the pot, enjoy the smell and the warmth, and stir for a few minutes. I can always find a happy place during those couple minutes of toasting millet, and there’s also the added benefit of not ending up with burnt millet. Win/win. After toasting the millet for a few minutes, pour in two parts water to one part millet (in this case, one cup of millet so two cups of water). Cover the pot with a lid, and bring the water to a gentle simmer. After about 15 minutes, the millet will have absorbed all the water and be ready, but keep the pot covered until then. While that’s happening, you can get all your vegetables ready. Mince, cut, dice. Feel free to add some fresh herbs, or substitute in other vegetables you have on hand. Once the millet is cooked, just combine it all in a large mixing bowl and mix. Make sure your bowl is pretty big, because the millet really needs plenty of room to break up any clumps and get the sesame oil throughout. For the tastiest result, serve right away when the millet is still a little warm.
Sesame Cucumber Spring Vegan Millet Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry millet
- ½ cucumber
- 2 scallions
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp. grated ginger
- ¼ cup shelled peas
- 1 tbsp. shelled sunflower seeds
- 2 tbsp. sesame oil
- Juice of one lemon
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Start by cooking your millet. Add the dry millet to a medium sized saucepan, and heat to medium high. Cook for a couple minutes, stirring often, until the millet starts to become fragrant. Add two cups of water and a generous pinch of salt, cover with a lid, and bring to a boil before reducing the heat to a simmer. Cook covered until all the water is absorbed.
- While the millet is cooking, chop the cucumber into small cubes. Chop the scallions into small pieces. Mince the garlic and grate the ginger.
- Once the millet is cooked, combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Toss it all to combine, and serve warm.
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