Millet Pilaf with Lemon and Saffron Recipe
A light and slightly sweet alternative to rice, this Millet pilaf offers a nutritionally-packed side dish that can be paired with grilled meat or seafood or mixed with greens to make a hearty salad.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Olive oil (extra virgin)
- 1 whole Medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves Garlic (peeled and diced)
- 3 whole Carrots (peeled and diced)
- 1 tsp Salt (Kosher or coarse mineral salt)
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
- 1/4 tsp Saffron threads (crushed)
- 1 1/2 cup Whole uncooked Millet
- 3 1/4 cup Chicken broth (or water)
- 1 whole Lemon (peel for zest, squeeze for juice)
- 1 tbsp Dried parsley (or 3/4 cup fresh parsley)
Instructions
- Add olive oil to pan and heat on medium-high. Add carrots (I used purple and yellow carrots, as that's all I had, but any color works!), onion, and garlic. Sauté for about 5-minutes until onions become translucent
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Note that you may need less salt if you're using table salt. I'm using coarse mineral salt.
- Add saffron, crumbling it up in your fingers as you sprinkle it into the pan.
- Add the Millet, cooking for a few minutes to lightly toast the grain. You don't want to see any color difference so be careful not to burn it.
- Add the chicken broth or water. Note that you can decrease the amount of chicken broth if you prefer a drier Millet, or increase it more if you prefer a wetter Millet.
- Add the juice from one lemon. Bring liquid to a simmer, cover and reduce heat to low until all water has been absorbed, about 25 minutes. Turn off heat, and let sit, covered, until tender, 10 minutes more.
- Add parsley. You can use fresh parsley. I didn't have any on-hand so I used dried parsley.
- Add the zest of one lemon and serve!
