This cozy whole grain meal is made with spicy flavored deliciously fluffy millet with pumpkin puree and carrot topped with shiitakes. It’s 100% gluten-free and vegan!
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What is millet?
Millet is an ancient whole grain widely consumed in countries throughout Africa and Asia. Through the years millet gained popularity in the West due to the fact that it’s gluten-free and rich in protein and fibers. I got introduced to this grain through the nutrition school during a lecture about whole foods and gluten-free foods. It’s a small whole-grain similar to cereal and has a light yellow color. It’s an amazing grain to make porridge with, either sweet or savory. In this recipe, we use African spices, pumpkin, and carrot to make a fluffy, heartwarming, and spicy porridge. It’s a super healthy, cozy, and satisfying meal that will boost your immunity!
Eat your veggies
In our busy lives, it’s sometimes hard to eat enough veggies. We need to eat 2-3 cups of vegetables a day but most of us don’t make it every day. When eating this recipe you don’t have to worry about that. It’s made with pumpkin, carrot, onion, garlic and shiitakes. Because it’s all mixed up with each other in a rich porridge you don’t even realize how many vegetables you are actually eating. Pumpkin and carrot provide a Beta Carotene Boost. Your body changes beta-carotene in vitamin A. This vitamin is essential for eye health and to make your reproductive system work the way it should. Both support immune health and so do shiitakes. Shiitake can also reduce inflammation. We wrote a whole article about the magical health benefits of shiitake and the health benefits of pumpkin. Even the garnish of this meal, cilantro, can boost your immune system to another level. Did you know cilantro has many medicinal powers?
Besides all the amazing health benefits of the main ingredients of this meal offering, they also mix super well in flavor. Shittake is a flavorful mushroom when you cook it. It’s meaty, nutty, and buttery. Exactly what you want to add to a spicy and fluffy millet porridge creamed with pumpkin puree.
If you want to know more about millet, stay tuned. We will share with you a whole article about this not-so-popular (yet) powerful whole grain.
Spiced Pumpkin & Carrot Millet with Shiitake (Gluten- Free)
Ingredients
- ½ cup pumpkin puree (1 or ½ a pumpkin)
- ½ cup grated carrot (1-2 carrots)
- 1 cup whole millet
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp cayenne
- chopped cilantro
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp coriander (powder)
- a squeeze of fresh lemon
- black pepper
- sea salt
Instructions
- Cut half a peeled pumpkin (or whole if you want to store more pumpkin puree ). Add it to a pot and pour boiled water over it. Let it cook until the pumpkin is soft. Keep the water to use it for cooking the millet. Add the pumpkin to a food processor or blender and pulse until pureed.
- Grate the carrot and set it aside.
- Toast the millet in a pot for 5 minutes until it starts to golden. Pour 500 ml of the cooking water you used for the pumpkin and bring to a boil. Add some salt and pepper, if desired you can add half a cube of vegetable broth for more taste. Cover with a lit and let is cook for 20 minutes on medium-low heat. The millet needs to get fluffy like porridge.
- While the millet is cooking fry the onion and 1 pressed garlic for a few minutes. Add the shiitake mushrooms and give it a stir from time to time. Season with salt and pepper. Add chopped fresh cilantro. Once the mushrooms start to become soft leave it on the lowest heath until the millet is ready.
- Add the carrot, pumpkin puree and the spices to the millet and give it a good stir. If needed ad some more hot water and keep stirring until you have a beautiful porridge.
- Serve the millet with the mushrooms on top. Squeeze a quarter lemon above each plate and garnish with fresh cilantro.
