Millet Patties with Beetroot Relish

Reach for the back of you cupboard and pull out the millet. It's the best grain, so good for you. Here is a little beauty for you to share with the uninitiated or just for your lunch. Patties are such an accessible way for people who haven't tried millet to experience it. They are lightly pan fried, usually served with a relish or chutney and some sort of salad. These can also make a hearty little canapé. They also do well on the BBQ
for something different.

Often when I cook millet or any other grain, I cook a little extra for my lunch or dinner the next day. That way half the meal is prepared. Sometimes I might make the full pattie mixture up, pan fried a couple for lunch and some for my hubby's lunch for the following day and leave the mixture in the fridge for my lunch the next day too. I don't mind having the same lunch twice in a row, I can just vary the salad or the chutney I serve with it. When your busy and hungry, all food taste pretty good!  

Makes = 18 mini patties

the patties

1 cup millet (cooked in 2 cups water)

1x small onion, very finely diced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup tahini (mix with 1/4 cup water and 1 tsp good salt)

1 cup zucchini, grated and loosely packed

1 cup carrot, grated and loosely packed

1/2 tsp good salt or to taste

1/2 bunch fresh coriander or parsley, finely chopped 

2 tbs sesame seeds

1 1/2 tbs dried mixed herbs 

1/2 cup g/f bread crumbs (g/f = gluten free)

1/4 cup besan flour (chickpea flour)

Bring the millet to the boil in 2 cups of water then reduce the heat to low heat. Adjust the lid of the saucepan slightly as you need to to allow the millet to simmer and not boil over. Leave the millet to simmer and cook for about 10-15 minutes or until soft and all the centre of the grain is swollen and cooked.  Turn the heat off and leave while you prepare the other ingredients. 

Saute the onion on a medium heat with the spices until the onion is soft. Add the carrot and cook for a further minute. Then add the zucchini and slightly soften on the heat for another minute. Both the carrot and the zucchini should be lightly cooked and soften but in no way mushy. Then spoon the millet into a large mixing bowl and break it up with a spoon and spread around the bowl to cool slightly. Add the rest of the ingredients and mixture by hand if cool enough! The patties should come together when you squeeze them and not be crumbly. Shape into small medallion patties about 1.5cm thick and 3.5-4cm in diameter.

Panfried on a medium heat until patties are golden on both side.

Serve with salad of your choice and beetroot relish.

Beetroot relish

1 cup beetroot, grated, loosely packed

1 small onion, finely sliced

1 tsp carraway seeds (or cumin seeds work well too)

1/4 cup cidar vinegar

1 tsp good salt 

freshly cracked pepper to taste

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup water or apple juice

Please note: This takes about 45 minutes to cook. So put this on first before making the millet patties. It takes 5 minutes to get all the ingredients prepped and into a small saucepan and away you go.

Saute onions, cracked pepper and caraway seeds on a medium heat until the onion is soft. Add the remaining ingredients and gently simmer until the beetroot is soft, takes approximately 45 minutes. 

Sometimes I make just enough for the dish I'm planning to eat with the relish or chutney and sometimes when there is a glut of fruits or vegetables I make a few extra jars. Be sure to steralise the jars thoroughly. Wash in hot soapy water until clean, then use either the oven method or the boiling method. See below.

To keep for longer than a week, place the hot relish or chutney in the heat proof jars, cover with water and boil for 5-10 minutes depending on sugar or salt content (if low in sugar or salt, boil for 10 minutes).

Oven method -  Wash all the jars and lids thoroughly in soapy water and rinse. Then place jars on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Set oven for 160C and cook for 10 minutes, allow them to cool slightly and fill with hot relish or chutney. Handle with a clean tea towel to be sure not to burn yourself!

Boiling method - Wash all the jars and lids thoroughly in soapy water and rinse. Then place the heatproof canning jars in a deep pot and cover with boiling water. Boil rapidly for 10 minutes. Drain upside down on paper towel or leave immerse until ready to use.

* Remember to sterilize lids and rubber seals too.