Spiced Carrot & Millet Salad

Spicy oven roasted carrots and onions served with beautiful fluffy millet, chickpeas, crunchy walnuts, sweet sultanas and fresh coriander. This dish has it all! I love this millet salad so much and you’ll understand why if you give it a try. 

I find that I get sick of certain meals quickly if I eat them too often, but the last month or so I’ve probably had the same handful of meals every day.

Like most mornings I would make gluten-free pancakes with blueberries and any other fruit I would have around. Dinners have been mainly roast potatoes/veg with a big salad, quick stir-fries or vegan “bone” broth soups. Yes, I’m having soup in summer. Crazy, I know.

I finally felt like experimenting with millet as I’ve been told for years that it’s good for you and that it would probably agree with me more than other grains.

But the only way that I’ve cooked it before was a porridge. So naturally, I thought that millet was mainly used for sweet recipes.

Well, it was lunchtime, and I just played around with it and voila! Here it is. Michael absolutely loved it, and I thought to myself, well this is worth sharing. It’s such a simple recipe but so delicious and packed with flavour.

What is millet? 

Millet is technically a seeded grass, so it is naturally gluten-free. It is a small yellow round grain that is predominantly grown in the semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa. 

You can use it in many different dishes. As i mentioned above, porridge is one of the ways, it can also be added to soups, used on the side of stir fries instead of rice and in breads. Millet flour is also a great gluten-free flour alternative. 

Cooking it will take longer than rice, buckwheat or quinoa, however I keep the ratio the same. 1 part grain to 2 parts water. If you want it to be creamier (more for porridge), then increase the ration 1:3.  

Altogether millet will take 30 minutes to cook. 

It’s perfect for work/school lunches as you can eat it cold as well. You can, of course, mix it up with whatever you have at home.

A few options to alter this millet salad

You can swap the coriander (cilantro) for parsley, the walnuts for almonds, cashews or pistachios. This combination works really well. The flavours balance out beautifully.

If you want a little more acidity (which some people think it may be missing), add a squeeze of lemon juice at the end before mixing it all together.

I find that carrots are such an underrated vegetable when it comes to letting them shine as one of the main ingredients. I don’t think I’ve highlighted them as much as I have in this recipe. The combination of spices, carrots and onion is a match made in heaven! I could eat this just on its own.

Hope you enjoy this recipe. Let me know in the comments below if you like it or if you changed anything around.

If you try this recipe, let me know! Would love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest. 

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Yield: serves 2-3

Spiced Carrot and Millet Salad

Total Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

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Ingredients

• ¾ cup millet
• 2 medium carrots, thin angle slices
• 2 small or 1 large red onion, sliced thinly
• 1.5 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp hot paprika powder
• ¼ cup olive oil + extra drizzle at the end
• 1 tsp salt & more to season at the end according to taste
• ⅓ cup sultanas
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• 1 can (400g) chickpeas
• Large handful of coriander, finely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200˚C and line tray with baking paper (preferably unbleached).
2. Toss the carrots, onion, garlic, turmeric, paprika, oil and salt together until all the spices are covering the vegetables well.
3. Spread onto baking tray evenly and roast until they start browning and slightly softening. This will take about 20 - 25 minutes. I normally take out after 10 minutes and give it a little stir to make sure that it bakes evenly and place back in the oven.
4. While that's in the oven, bring to a boil the millet with 1.5 cups of water. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, covering and cooking for 20 minutes or until most of the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit for around 5 minutes.
5. In a large bowl combine the roasted carrots, sultanas, walnuts, chickpeas, coriander and millet. Drizzle some olive oil and add salt to taste.
6. Give it a good toss and serve.

Other recipes you’ll love:

1. Simple Potato and Radicchio Salad
2. Warm Vegan Lentil Salad with Tempeh (Gluten-Free)
3. Rainbow Falafel Salad
4. Roasted Eggplant and Capsicum Buckwheat Salad
5. Mediterranean Pearled Couscous Salad