I love my grains.  Who doesn’t nowadays with grain bowls all the rage?  But I had never cooked with millet, not until last night.  So my first thought was, “Now what?”  My second was “What the heck is this?”  And third “How do I get you in my belly?”

Let’s begin with some info and history since the interweb is full of this sort of thing.  Millet is actually a seed from a whole family of grasses rather than from just one specific plant.  People have been eating millet for thousands of years – since the beginning of ancient civilizations.  Since they are highly tolerant to extreme weather conditions such as drought, they are common in areas of west Africa and Asia where weather can often wipe out a crop that is less resilient.  They are relatively nutritious compared to rice and wheat and release sugar slowly in the blood and diminish glucose absorption.

So millet has a lot going for it.  I made mine pilaf style sauteing it with scallions in olive oil before adding water and salt to cook it through.  The final texture was between quinoa and polenta with a slightly nutty taste.  You can cook it in plenty of salted water that you strain when done for more of a quinoa or rice dish.  Or, you can cook it longer for more of a porridge.  Pretty versatile and gluten free.