Millet Heaps

Dear all,

At the moment, my body hovers at a crucial point: I still have to lose a bit of the holiday weight and I need to do it now, before the Christmas and new years celebrations hit again. Do you also know these cycles? Luckily, it is only a matter of a few pounds…

I am always interested in news about weight loss. The number of diets never ceases to amaze me – and the number of people following and swearing on them. In this newsletter I want to have a closer look at two popular diets that have cropped up recently: alkaline and paleo diet.

For the purpose of weight loss I usually turn to high fibre food. In combination with avoiding sugar and alcohol I usually succeed in maintaining my figure.

This month, a friend of mine inspired me because she cured her stomach ulcer with alkaline food. This reminded me of millet, the only grain with alkalizing properties. Recently, I have found organic millet in many supermarkets. What better way than to use it in a healthy snack?

I call this recipe millet heaps because of their look. The added vegetables deliver vitamins and phytonutrients and keep the heaps moist inside. The crunchy exterior is reached by baking them on a cookie tray laced with plenty of olive oil. You can serve millet heaps as a healthy snack, a light meal with a salad at the side or a guilt-free addition to a Thanksgiving dinner.

This recipe ticks all the boxes of the alkaline diet but does little for the paleo lovers. Hard core paleo fans consider millet as poison.

Like always, I listen to my body. I like millet. It tastes great and keeps my insides running smoothly. These millet heaps are so easy to make, you can call them fool proof.

Wishing you happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro with family

Millet Heaps

Ingredients (for 20 pieces):

• 1 cup millet
• 4 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 medium carrot
• 3 eggs
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 big cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground cardamon
• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
• salt
• pepper

Method:

Place the millet with double the amount of water and one teaspoon salt into a pot.

Bring it to a boil and let it simmer until the millet has absorbed all the water. This takes 10 to 15 minutes.

Clean and skin the carrot. Wash the zucchini. Grate them into a big mixing bowl.

Add the spices, the crushed garlic, the eggs, the whole-wheat flour and the millet. Mix everything well and season with salt and pepper.

Spread olive oil over a cookie tray and place heaps of the millet mix onto the tray. I use an ice cream scoop for this job.

Place into the oven and bake for 45 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

If you use a gas oven, turn them after half an hour to get them crunchy all around. If you use an electric oven, this might not be necessary. Enjoy.

Hummus, A Healthy Classic

Dear all,

The other day I received an email with a link to 32 different chickpea recipes ‘to dug me out of my hummus hole’. So far, I had been unaware of the existence of such a hole.

I love hummus and serve it regularly at dinner parties. Often I eat it as a healthy lunch with a little salad and some whole wheat crackers – very refreshing, especially during the current heat wave in India.

Although hummus has lost its exotic factor in the country where we live, many people still ask me for the recipe. Although it is as simple as can be, some manage to get it wrong. I think, the biggest mistake commonly made is to add too much tahini, the sesame paste from Middle East. Although tahini is wonderfully healthy, it has a strange texture. When you eat it by itself, it feels very sticky and tastes slightly bitter. Too much tahini can ruin your hummus.

Of course, you can also add to much lemon and too much garlic, although this is largely a matter of personal taste. One time, I dropped too much pepper powder in my blender. There was no way I could get rid of it, so this one time we had a very peppery hummus – my guests liked it though.

In general, I think we should eat as many legumes as possible. They provide cheap protein in combination with fibre, complex carbohydrates (the good ones) and many minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients.

Legumes are great to keep slim and fit and hummus is the perfect recipe. You can keep it up to one week in the fridge and you can even freeze it. When you open the door of my freezer, you will always find a container with hummus, next to some pasta sauces and homemade pâtés.

Wishing you happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro with family

Hummus - a classic dip

Ingredients:
(for 8 servings)

• 1 cup dried chickpeas
•  2 tablespoons tahini
•  4 tablespoons lemon juice
•  3 tablespoons olive oil
•  2 cloves garlic
•  salt
•  pepper
• ½ cup cooking liquid

Method:

Spread out the beans and check them for small stones, debris and damaged beans. Wash the chickpeas and soak them in plenty of water overnight. The next day, drain the soaked chickpeas, put them into a pot, cover with two litres salt water and boil them until soft.

If you use a pressure cooker, add only one litre of water with the chickpeas and cook for 30 minutes after the first whistle. The chickpeas need to become really soft. Drain the chickpeas, but save half a cup of the liquid.

You can prepare humus either with a blender stick or in a blender. With a blender stick, mash the chickpeas first, and then add the tahini, the lemon juice, the olive oil and the crushed garlic. Combine with some cooking liquid to obtain a smooth paste.

If you use a blender, throw in all the ingredients and blend away. It is better to crush the garlic before adding it.