Have you ever come across an item in a grocery store and thought ‘what the f@#k is that’?!

It happens to me in China all the time. There are countless weirdo foods out there in this big wide world, many that I have never seen or heard of, especially in England. Ok, maybe some of the foods aren’t so aesthetically weird, but they’re pretending to be another food and that’s what makes them weird! For example, millet.

Millet is a grain that somewhat resembles couscous in appearance. However, nutritionally it’s a little closer to the infamous quinoa, that grain we all know as the high protein one. Well okay so quinoa is a complete protein, but millet’s almost on the same level. Yes, so it’s missing the amino acid lysine and has a little less protein overall, but it still deserves some credit. In terms of taste and texture, I’d say it has superiority over quinoa. It is fluffy, malleable and doesn’t begin life with a bitter taste.

I have to admit however, when I first bought it, under the assumption it was couscous, I covered it in boiling water in a bowl and was puzzled when I returned to find it hadn’t cooked at all! I added more hot water, then more, a little more, until the bowl consisted of a pond with a shallow base of grains. My confusion soon turned into frustration and I dumped the lot into a saucepan to provide a more constant heat source. After five minutes of still not being cooked, the frustration became anger, but I could do nothing more than wait. Finally, after fifteen flipping minutes, the ‘couscous’ was soft and ready to eat. I assumed it was some strange form of couscous that is only produced in China and that people are a lot more patient here with their food.

After a night out with some friends, we came back to mine and I had some leftovers, which we tucked into. I asked one of them why couscous in China takes way longer to cook than the one I had back in England, after which she retorted, ‘oh that’s millet, not couscous’!
Then I really understood millet. We got off on a bad start, but when I got it, the rest was history - and so began my experimental journey with this new little grain.

Who doesn’t love a good bag of crisps? So versatile- nights in, nights out, day trips, night trips, or whatever day and night events might occur, crisps are the perfect snack for those with an adoration for everything salty. I think they’re great, but I have issues with eating too much, so I try and transform certain foods into healthier options to make me feel less guilty about over-indulging - and so came about, my millet crisps.

Serving size:
Serves 3-4

Ingredients for crisps:
• 500g cooked millet
• 1 tsp salt
• Oil to grease

Ingredients for smashed avo dip:
• 2 avocadoes
• Juice of ½ lime
• 1 green chilli
• Salt to taste

Ingredients for roasted garlic and red pepper dip:10
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 red peppers
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Oil to grease
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. For the crisps, combine the millet and salt in a bowl. Using slightly wet or greased hands, mash and squeeze the doughy mixture so that the individual grains become one big lump.
2. Form into little patties between the palms of your hands and flatten, gently placing onto a greased baking tray.
3. Brush each round with oil and bake at 200C for 30 minutes. The crisps should become a more vibrant yellow, with the edges slightly golden and the texture crunchy.
4. For the avo dip, blitz all ingredients in a food processor, retaining some chunks, and keep refrigerated.
5. For the garlic and pepper dip, drizzle oil over the garlic cloves and peppers and roast in the oven at 200C for 25 minutes.
6. Blitz these in a food processor with the lemon, salt and pepper until a smooth, deep orange puree appears.
7. Serve the crisps as soon as they are cooked.

You might find the recipe is just enough for one, if you're like me (greedy!).