Yummy Millet and Veggie Patties

Overall: 

1. Cook the millet, a very healthy grain, but very much like bird seed if it’s not cooked enough.  

2. Choose, chop and sauté veggies and spices. (Make sure they’re not too wet, or the patties won’t form well.)

3. Mix cooked millet with sautéed veggies, spices, an egg, and a tablespoon of cassava flour. 

4. Squish into balls that fit in the palm of your hand, make sure they form well.  

5. Cook the patties in a large, preheated, olive oiled cast iron pan for 5ish minutes on each side.  

Details: 

1. Cook the millet. 

Use 1/2 cup dry millet

With 2 cups soup broth or water

Heat the millet in a large pot on the stove on medium for 5 minutes, then add 2 cups soup broth (preferably homemade).  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low-medium and continue cooking until all the liquid is absorbed.  Now, the original recipe said that would take 15 minutes.  I find it’s closer to an hour.  Check it regularly, until you get used to how quickly it cooks in your pan on your stove.  If it’s undercooked, you’ll break a tooth.  

Since it takes a while… I cook a couple recipes worth of millet in a large pan, then use one recipe’s worth and refrigerate or freeze the rest.   I like the millet cooked in a simple, homemade vegetable broth.  I’ll include that later.  

2. Choose, chop and sauté veggies and spices.

This is the fun part.  There are many choices.  Try them all, see what you like. 

Here’s one: 

Sauté for about 8 minutes: 

1/2 Red onion, chopped

1 large clove Garlic, chopped

Then add and continue sautéing for another 10 minutes: 

1 cup Spinach, previously frozen, thawed under warm running water for a minute, then squeezed to get rid of excess water, chopped

1/2 cup Artichokes, previously frozen, thawed under warm running water for a minute, then squeezed to get rid of excess water (canned would be fine too)

Salt, 1/2 teaspoon (actually: shake shake shake shake) 

Pepper, 1/2 teaspoon

Oregano, 1 teaspoon

Fennel, 1/4 teaspoon

For this one, I added 1/2 cup shaved Pecorino-Romano cheese after the veggies were cooked. 

Ok, so I don’t really measure.  You’ll need about 1.5 cups of veggies for the 1/2 cup of dry - or 1.5 cups cooked millet to form the patties.  But, if you like one ingredient more than another - go for it! Worst case, it’ll be a tasty blob instead of a patty.  

OR

Sauté for about 3 minutes: 

1/2 Red onion, chopped

1 large clove Garlic, chopped

Then add and continue sautéing for another 10 minutes: 

1 cup Portobello Mushrooms, chopped

1/4 cup Carrots, chopped

2 teaspoons of our mix of spices

Or

Salt, 1/2 teaspoon

Pepper, 1/2 teaspoon

Oregano, 1 teaspoon

OR

Use 1 1/2 cup of any leftover veggies in the fridge, chopped

And 

2 teaspoons of spices

3. Mix, gently with a large fork or spoon

Cooked millet, 1.5 cups 

Sautéed spiced veggies, 1.5 cups

1 pastured egg

1 tablespoon of cassava flour

4. Squish into balls that fit in the palm of your hand, make sure they form well.  

5.  Preheat a large cast-iron pan. 

I use the same one I sauteed the veggies in, so I only need to clean one. 

Add 2 Tablespoons olive oil. 

Cook the patties for about 5 minutes on each side.  

I find this quantity feeds 3 of us, although the original recipe said it would be 4.  Without other dishes, plan on serving 3 with this quantity.