First published in the City Natural Therapies March 2010 Newsletter. Don’t want to miss out on great recipes, thoughtful articles and health tips? Sign up for the free e-newsletter.

This pilaf was inspired by doing a wholefoods cooking course with Tony Chiodo many years ago. Sadly the recipe doesn’t appear in his wonderful new cookbook. If you’ve not made a pilaf before it is much easier than risotto, once the ingredients have been added to the pan you just have to leave it on a heat diffuser and forget about it for a while. It also dishes up a healthy serve of vitamin A rich pumpkin. For those who are not acquainted with millet, be sure to buy hulled (not unhulled) millet otherwise the grain will be too hard to eat (it makes good bird feed though!)

Millet, pumpkin and almond pilaf

(Serves 4 as a side dish or 2 with a salad)

1 cup hulled millet, rinsed
1 1/2 cups water or good quality vegetable stock
1 cup of pumpkin, cut into 3 cm cubes
1/2 cup onion, diced finely
1/4 cup whole almonds, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped finely
Sea salt – to taste

Optional flavourings: olive oil, lemon and ginger juice.

Rinse the millet, drain and place in a pot with the water. Add the pumpkin cubes, onions, almonds (and salt if you haven’t used stock). Bring to a rolling boil and cover with a lid. Place on a heat mat to cook on a low heat for 25 minutes. Turn the heat off and allow it to rest for 5 minutes before uncovering.

You can jazz it up with a dash of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon or a little lemon zest and some ginger juice (from grated ginger). Stir through with the parsley and serve.

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