Millet porridge with dates
I’m still playing with millet. For me it is best in sweet breakfasts. This time it was really sweet because of dates and honey :). You may add some sour seasonal fruit to make it less sweet.
A warm, sweet millet bowl for a slow morning, with dates and cranberries cooked into the grain rather than scattered on top.
Preparation
I poured boiling water over the millet, brought it to the boil and poured the water out. Next I poured in fresh boiling water and added salt. I boiled it for 15 minutes, adding the dates and cranberries. I added clarified butter. You can blend it now or not. I added seasonal fruit to the bowls.
The double scald is the strongest way to debitter millet
Most recipes rinse millet under cold water, and some pour a kettle over it. This one does more: the grain is covered with boiling water, brought back to the boil and that water is thrown away before cooking starts. It costs three minutes and it is the most thorough of the three methods.
The reason is that the fats in the grain’s outer layer oxidise as the packet sits in a cupboard, and those oxidised fats are what make a batch taste bitter and faintly soapy. Cold water barely touches them, a kettle rinse takes some off, and a brief boil takes most. The older the packet, the more the difference shows.
Fresh boiling water, and salt at the start
The second lot of water goes in boiling rather than cold, so the grain does not sit in slowly warming water and start releasing starch before it cooks. It keeps the grains separate rather than gluey.
The salt goes in with that water, which is worth noticing in a sweet porridge. A pinch of salt in something sweet does not make it salty, it makes the sweetness readable, and millet without any salt tastes flat however many dates are in it.
The dates and cranberries cook in, not on
This is what separates this bowl from most millet recipes, where the fruit goes on top at the end. Here they join the pot during the 15 minutes of cooking, and they have two jobs: they soften into the grain and they sweeten the whole thing from the inside, which is why there is only a tablespoon of honey in the list rather than a real dose of sugar.
Chop the dates before they go in, or you get sweet pockets in an otherwise plain porridge. Dried cranberries are sharp enough to balance the dates, and if yours are the sweetened kind, cut the honey.
Blend or not, and what each gives you
“You can blend it now or not” is a real choice rather than a throwaway line. Unblended, the grains stay separate and the dates are pieces you bite into. Blended, it turns into a smooth, thick cream closer to a dessert, and the dates disappear into it as sweetness rather than texture.
The clarified butter goes in before either, off the heat. It melts into the hot porridge and carries the flavour, and adding it to the pot while it is still boiling only makes it separate and sit on the surface.
Serving and keeping
Fresh fruit goes into the bowls at the end, uncooked, which is the contrast the cooked fruit inside does not provide. Nuts and seeds too: they soften within minutes in a hot bowl.
Cooked millet sets firm in the fridge, much more than oats, so a kept portion comes out as a block. Loosen it with a splash of water or plant drink over low heat. It keeps three days. If you would rather have breakfasts like this one planned into the week with a shopping list, that is what the Diet & Training by Ann app does.
Millet porridge with dates and cranberries
Ingredients
Method
- Pour boiling water over the millet, bring it back to the boil and pour that water away.
- Pour in fresh boiling water, add salt and bring back to a simmer.
- Boil for 15 minutes, adding the chopped dates and the cranberries during cooking.
- Take the pot off the heat and stir in the clarified butter.
- Blend the porridge for a smooth cream, or leave it as it is for separate grains.
- Serve in bowls with fresh fruit, nuts and seeds added at the last moment.
Notes
Frequently asked questions
Because it takes the bitterness with it. The fats in the grain’s outer layer oxidise while the packet sits in a cupboard, and those are what make millet taste bitter and faintly soapy. Covering it with boiling water, bringing it back to the boil and discarding that water removes most of them, far more than a cold rinse does.
So the grain does not sit in slowly warming water and release starch before it cooks. Starting from boiling keeps the grains separate rather than gluey.
Yes, and the salt goes in with the cooking water. A pinch in something sweet does not make it salty, it makes the sweetness readable. Millet without any salt tastes flat however many dates are in it.
Because here they are the sweetener, not the garnish. Cooked into the grain for 15 minutes they soften and sweeten the whole pot from inside, which is why the recipe needs only a tablespoon of honey. Chop them first, or you get sweet pockets in an otherwise plain porridge.
Either works and they give different things. Unblended, the grains stay separate and the dates are pieces you bite into. Blended, it becomes a smooth thick cream closer to a dessert. The clarified butter goes in before either, off the heat, or it separates and sits on the surface. Breakfasts like this one come planned into the week with a shopping list in the Diet & Training by Ann app.
Have a sweet Sunday!
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