This millet salad is a healthy mix of 3 types of millets as well as cashews, green beans and a gorgeous tangerine salad dressing to go with it. It has just the right amount of tanginess, crunch, bite, and all-round good feeling. It is also a great choice for vegetarians or vegans.
Jump to:
Ingredients
Millet is a seeded grass which is high in fibre and therefore pretty filling. It is also gluten-free and therefore if you have issues with gluten, then this is one of many alternatives. This resource gives a quick overview of all things millet.
During one of my market trips, the young lady who sold the millet explained to me what each kind was typically used for.
Green millet (pearl millet) is typically used for Hausa Koko, a Ghanaian breakfast porridge.
The reddish ones (finger millet) are typically used for Pito, an alcoholic beverage. The white ones are used for Tuo Zaafi (another Ghanaian dish) but also as corn replacement, for those who don't consume corn.
For this recipe, all three types were used to get a beautiful blend.A full list of ingredients can be found in the recipe card.
Instructions
The first step is to boil the millet and in this recipe, the grains are cooked in vegetable stock for more flavour.
The shallots and garlic are tossed in coconut oil and then roasted in the oven until soft. The next step is to blanch the green beans, cool them off and set those to the side.
For the dressing, the crushed shallots and garlic are mixed with tangerine juice, olive oil, mustard and some dawadawa powder (fermented locust beans powder). See recipe card for full instructions.
Mix all the ingredients together(plus the dressing ). You can either keep the texture of the cashews by sprinkling them on the salad just when you are about to serve. You can also add them right in when mixing the salad.
For some extra crunch, grated and fried cocoyam are used to top this millet salad.
You can eat this salad immediately, however it is better when left refrigerated for at least for a day. The millet in this salad is very resilient so it can take that dressing without becoming overly soft or wilting as you would find with vegetables or herbs.
Substitutions & Variations
- vegetable oil - the olive oil can be replaced with any vegetable oil of your choice.
- beef or chicken stock - if you don't mind, you can use either chicken or beef stock to cook the millet.
- fish sauce - as dawadawa is not easily accessible everywhere, you can use a few drops of fish sauce as a substitute.
Tips
- Make sure to sort the millet properly and thoroughly. Depending on where you buy them, there may be tiny stones or some debris. If you do not do this you will be crunching on small stones.
- The green beans do lose their vibrant colour after they have been in the fridge for a day or two but this does not take away from their flavour whatsoever.
- The grains take a while to cook so do bring some time and patience with you. The red and white millet grains almost took an hour to cook to get them to the texture I wanted even though I had soaked them overnight.
- The tangerine juice lends a nice citrusy and slightly sweet flavour to the dressing and is the perfect combination for this salad. Make sure to taste your salad as you mix and adjust for salt or other seasonings if necessary.
Other salad recipes you will enjoy are:
3 Millet Salad with Green Beans and Cashew Nuts
Ingredients
- 50 grams red millet soaked in water overnight
- 50 grams white millet soaked in water overnight
- 50 grams green millet soaked in water overnight
- vegetable stock to cook millet
- 3 garlic cloves peeled
- handful small shallots peeled
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil melted
- 5 green beans sliced (about 2 cm long)
- handful cashew nuts crushed coarsely
- tangerine juice tart and fresh from 2 fruits
- olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dawadawa powder optional
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- 1 teaspoon ginger blended
- 2 bunches spring onions sliced or chopped
- fresh parsley coarsely chopped, to taste
Instructions
- Cook millet in vegetable stock. The larger red and white grains will take about 55 minutes to cook, while the green will take about 30 minutes. Drain and let cool.
- Meanwhile, place garlic and shallots on a baking tray lined with some parchment or baking paper, pour or sprinkle (depending on what form it is in), coconut oil on them. Roast gently in the oven until soft.
- Cook green beans for about 3-4 minutes and then run under cold water briefly.
- In a mortar crush shallots and garlic into a coarse consistency.
- Mix tangerine juice with olive oil, salt, dawadawa, mustard, ginger, shallots and garlic. See notes 1 and 3.
- Adjust seasoning according to your taste.
- Combine millet with spring onions, green beans, parsley, and cashews.
- Add dressing and leave to sit in the fridge for a day for best results.
- Serve salad at room temperature.
Video
Notes
- Start your dressing with a ratio of 2 parts of tangerine juice to 1 part of olive oil. Taste and adjust. Add the other ingredients and then adjust again as necessary.
- If you don’t have any stock, boil the millet in well-salted water. For additional crunch, just before serving, fry some grated cocoyam in hot oil. Drain, salt and sprinkle over salad.
- Dawadawa is fermented locust beans and is easily available here in Ghana. It is optional for this recipe but greatly improves the flavour of this salad. You can use a few drops of fish sauce as a substitute.
YtheWait says
Healthy Recipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Edinam says
Absolutely! Very filling too.