A few years back, this post appeared on my pressure cooking blog which will go away one day.
Back then, in the olden days, I was the guest chef at VegNews magazine for their special Cafe VegNews lunch.
I made my prize-winning recipe for Spicy African Sweet Potato and Ground Nut Stew which wasn’t very spicy that day. What goes along with it is millet. And I must admit unabashedly that it was the best millet that I’ve had in a long time.
Here is how I made it. I’d love to hear how it turns out for you.
Basic Pressure Cooked Millet
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups millet
- 2 1/2 cups water
- salt to taste, add after cooking
Instructions
- I heated the pressure cooker over medium heat and added the millet, stirring it often until it began to pop. (When using your Instant Pot, put the pot on saute.)
- When I could smell that it was toasty, I added the water and locked on the pressure cooker lid. I brought it to pressure. Turned down the heat to maintain high pressure and cooked it for 10 minutes. (In the Instant Pot, all you need to do is set the pot for 10 minutes and walk away - or stand them if you like.) I took it off the heat and let the pressure come down naturally, which took about 5 minutes. (Let the pressure come down naturally in the Instant Pot but not for more than 10 minutes.) When I carefully opened the pot, it looked great. But I had to travel at least 20 minutes to get to the VegNews office so I just grabbed the cooker and went.
When I was finally ready to serve, I could tell that I had completely nailed the millet. Wooo hooo!
I’ve found that the key to cooking great grains is to keep them from stewing in liquid. So I add the suggested amount for the first cup and then decrease the liquid by 1/4 cup for each additional cup of grain. It seems to work just about every time.
If you don’t eat millet, give it a try. It’s the “bird seed” grain that’s popular in Japan, China and Africa. It’s gluten-free and non-acidic, which means that it’s easy to digest. Not expensive either. It is wonderful for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Do you eat millet?
I use a Fagor pressure cooker.I soak 1/2 cup the millets overnight. The nextday, I rinse the millet under cold water 4-5 times. Next ,I coat the lower part of the Fagor with olive oil using 3 tablespoons. Then I pour the rinsed millets in the pot. I add 3 cups of spring water to the Fagor. I then shut and lock the Fagor and put it on high heat on the gas burner. When the Fagor goes to a high steady release of steam, I start timing it to exactly 15 . Minutes. I reduce the heat a little if the steam release is extreme. I turn the Fagor 0ff at 15 minutes, and time the cool off to exactly 10 minutes. Then I release the steam if any left, remove the lid and stir the millet into the small amount of water on the surface of the millet.
This must be a millet porridge, rather than millet served like rice. Your method is very interesting.
Generally, I do not add oil when cooking.
This recipe worked well for me. I did make some adjustments. I used 1 cup of millet and 1 1/2 cups of water and this was the perfect quantity to fill a 3 qt pyrex container. I used an Instapot, sauteed the millet for a few minutes before starting the pressure cooker. I sauteed until the millet smelled like it had a toasted quality, about 5 minutes. Make sure you don’t burn the millet while sauteing. I also added a pat of butter (I am not a vegan) and stirred the millet while sauteing to mix the butter throughout. I used the ‘multigrain’ setting on my instapot (10 minute pressure cook time). I am not certain this mattered: I didn’t wait for the pressure cooker to slowly release its pressure and cool; I carefully released the pressure valve (careful you don’t burn yourself, I used a wooden spoon to release the valve). Great recipe, easily modified for non-vegans who like butter.
Liked your quite concise yet informative and easy to follow receipe plus the upbeat tone. I’m just learning about my hot pot so look forward to your info. Thanks!
Thank you so much. Always happy to help. I love teaching.