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Did you know 2023 is the international year of MILLET? No??? Well don't worry, no-one seems to know about it, though it was decreed by the UN.

The BBC has a nice article about traditional millet in India. But neither the UN nor the BBC seems to be willing to share any recipes. What can I cook with millet? If the UN wants more millet, shouldn't it be the job of the rich world's foodies to get obsessed with it (like quinoa, banana blossom, avocado, ... whatever), so obsessed that the media worries about the global millet shortage?

(Edit: I think the UN's using Instagram to share millet recipes? (I don't use Instagram.) See e.g. this from Chef Pierre Thiam. But it doesn't seem to actually give the recipe details. Also the content I see there seems mainly to conist of "boil millet, and serve some food on top of it"...?)

I found not many recipes online. The two main categories of recipe in English seem to be: (a) very basic veggie burgers - after all, you can squish anything into a flat disc and call it a veggie burger; and (b) pilaf -- honestly, this Moroccan millet and roasted carrot pilaf looks fabulous and also easy, and I can't wait to try it.

In my old recipe books, I couldn't find many clues either. But I did indeed find a millet pilaf (in The New Classic 1000 Recipes by Wendy Hobson, 2003). It seems wise to turn to old recipe books here, because millet is a "forgotten food", used mainly for birdfeed nowadays. In the old millet pilaf recipe, the one thing they do that is not in online material is to toast the millet for 5 minutes in a hot pan before boiling it, to get some toasty flavour in it.

Then, the next challenge... obtaining millet! It's not in any supermarkets here. The only Dutch place I could find it is in Ecoplaza, essentially the whole-foods shop.

So: Experiment number 1. I'm making basic millet burgers:

• Put 90g millet in a hot pan (that's enough for 3 burgers), and shake it around for 5 minutes, until there's a slightly toasted smell. The smell in fact reminds me of bird food!
• Add plenty of boiling water and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
• Drain the millet in a sieve, let it cool. --- When I did this, I noticed that the texture became rather "porridgey", not just separated grains. This is encouraging for veggieburgers because it implies that they'll hold together pretty well.
• Now follow a basic veggieburger recipe such as this one (I augmented mine with parsley, peanut butter, soy, and breadcrumbs. But not too much of any of these, so that we can discern the character of the millet.)

And the results? Here:

• Good crust, when fried - looks a bit chickenburgery; better crust than homemade beanburgers.
• The burger was still too "squishy" for a burger - a common issue with homemade veggieburgers!
• The texture was pretty good - "bobbly" like giant couscous or pearl barley, while also a bit porridgey I guess.
• The taste was bland - only really tasted the small bit of peanut butter I added.

Experiment number 2. This Moroccan Millet & Roasted Carrot Pilaf recipe looks great... and, frankly, it is. The carrot and the spices go really well with the slightly nutty, and slightly "cakey" texture of the millet grain. It's quite similar to any grain-based cookery, really (e.g. couscous, pearl barley), but the texture is different --- "cakey" instead of having well-separated grains. Not inherently good or bad, but different. I recommend this recipe and I'll definitely cook it again.

Experiment number 3 was "Millet, squash and sweet corn pilaf" from a recipe book by Amy Chaplin. It was OK -- sweetcorn mixed in makes a good texture (though a touch mashed-potatoey overall), and the sweetness from the squash and sweetcorn are nicely balanced against the savouriness of the pumpkin seed and soy sauce. However, I'd say the dish needs to be made more interesting - I'd roast the squash instead of boiling, to get the usual lovely caramelisation on the squash, and also add some fresh herbs to it (I think mint would be good).

Experiment number 4: This Millet Masala Khichdi recipe -- I don't know "khichdi" but it's apparently a common Indian dish -- basically a dhal (lentil stew) but combined with grain to make a one-pot Indian midweek meal. It was very dhal in texture, unlike if we'd made it with rice. I'd say it's a good storecupboard dish to know.

Thus far... More research needed! Looking for other top tips, please message me about millet in 2023 :)