Makes about 4-5 cups

2 -3 cups water, chicken or vegetable stock (please see note)
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp extra light olive oil or unsalted butter
1 cup whole millet

Optional Spices:
½ tsp unrefined sea salt
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp Thai saffron
2 black cardamom pods (removed from its shell)

Bring the stock or water to a simmer. Then peel and finely chop the garlic.

Place a heavy-bottomed pot or large pan with a lid over medium high heat. Add the oil/butter and millet and toast, stirring constantly until the millet starts to pop and jump around. Then add the chop garlic until fragrant. Be sure the millet doesn’t burn. If it does, simple remove the pot and lower the heat slightly, stirring constantly to cool.

Then slowly add the stock or water, salt and the optional spice. Bring to boil and reduce the heat immediately. Simmer until all the liquids have been absorbed, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from the heat and place a tea towel under the lid to absorb any steam for about 5 minutes. Fluff immediately with a fork and serve as a side dish.

Notes:

The amount of water per cup of millet:
2 cups for water - slightly crunchy;
2-1/4 to 2-1/2 water - light and fluffy
3 cups water – soft and almost mushy

If you chose not to toast your millet, rinse them in water and drain. It’s quite possible if you don’t do either of the two, the outside of the grain will turn to mush before the insides are cook enough to lose their crunch.

When the millet is hot, the grains are quite sticky but when they have cooled down, they will separate.

You can also soak the millet for a few hours before cooking or sprouting if you’re worried about the phytic acid (a phytonutrient) and phytates (the salt of phytic acid). But sometimes both of them are beneficial. They are neither good nor bad. It depends on when you have them. If you consume them as part of your meal, their effect is negative by removing key nutrients from the meal that you’re consuming. But if you have it as a supplement, separate from the meal, they are quite beneficial working as an antioxidant in the colon without sacrificing the nutrients in the foods you eat. Also, phytic acid mineral binding properties are helpful in removing excess minerals such as iron (too much can increase the risk of heart disease and colon cancer) from our body and even a small phytic acid can help reduce harmful iron absorption by half.