We have been living in the US for two years now. I met many women, moms, friends, families and we talk a lot about differences among our cultures, traditions and cuisine.  Whenever I ask what kind of groats do you like the most, I usually hear that it’s not well known here. I noticed that grains, groats are not that popular here in the US comparing to Europe. In my home country in Poland we cook it a lot and we have a great selection of groats. The most popular ones are: barley, millet, spelt, buckwheat, semolina.

I want to focus on Millet today because it’s such a fantastic and incredibly healthy grain for everybody! You can have it as a nutritious breakfast with fruits or a super yummy and filling dinner with veggies and meat. I used to serve it without meat because like I mentioned before I do not combine protein with carbohydrates but you can be creative and serve it with whatever you like! What’s my favorite way to use millet you will read below.

Millet – this ancient grain was cultivated in East Asia as far back as 10,000 years ago, according to archaeologists. It is a great source of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and organic compounds that can significantly boost human health in various ways. Some of the best health benefits of millet include are:

• ability to protect your heart health,
• optimize your immune system,
• improve your digestive system,
• protect yourself from diabetes,
• detoxify the body,
• lower your risk of cancer,
• boost respiratory health,
• increase your energy levels,
• improve your muscle and nerve health.

Millet is so important because of its uniquely high content of nutrients. It has very high B-vitamin content, as well as calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, magnesium, not to mention being a healthy source of essential fats in the body. Millet is gluten-free, so Celiac sufferers can turn to millet as their source of grains, instead of wheat. Also infants can start eating millet very early. It’s a great source of vitamins, fats and nutrients for them and we you don’t have to wait until your baby can start eating gluten because of it’s gluten free formula.

Most grocery and health food stores sell millet. I usually buy the organic one in Whole Foods. You can serve it as an alternative to cooking rice or pasta. Millet can be also used as a traditional cereal, porridge and snack. Kids will love it if you serve it with blended raspberries or cut strawberries. My absolutely favorite way to use millet is cooking it and serve it with roasted apples on coconut oil, cinnamon, blueberries and raspberries for breakfast. The taste of roasted apples on coconut oil is indescribable… 🙂 It’s unbelievably delicious!

How to cook it?

In my opinion (I tried many ways to cook millet) this easy recipe below is simply the best. Millet is then friable and not sticky.

• Rinse it the night before on sieve and leave it to dry.
• In the morning, roast it in a dry pan for 1 to 2 minutes until it is lightly browned out.
• Add 1 tea spoon of butter and 1/2 spoon of turmeric. Stir.
• Pour hot water – for 1 cup of millet, use 3 cups of water.
• Leave it on a little fire for 30 minute under the cover. Do not stir.
• After 30 minutes millet is ready to eat. Although I wrap the hot pan in a blanket and leave it for 20 extra minutes.

Hope you will try it and fall in love with millet because it’s much healthier alternative to all sweet cereal which you can find in a store.