Ingredients
- ¾ cup millet
- ¾ cup quinoa
- 1½ cups cauliflower florets, cut into small pieces
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1½ cups mashed firm tofu
- 2 tbsp roughly chopped dill
- 2 tbsp roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1½ tbsp grated lemon zest
- ¾ cup brown rice flour or besan, plus extra for dusting
- sea salt and cracked white pepper
- 2 eggs, beaten (leave out if you’re vegan)
- ½ cup rice crumbs
- 2 cups rice bran oil
- 2 limes or lemons, quartered
Millet and tofu croquettes
These are great party food, and are perfect for kids as well. Finger food is usually a winner with little ones. Make your own crumbs by toasting leftover rice bread and processing it into crumbs – or you can find rice crumbs in your health food store. These croquettes are also great with only millet or quinoa, instead of both. It is best to start this recipe a day ahead.
Method
Wash and drain the millet and quinoa and place in a large saucepan. Add the cauliflower and stock, bring to the boil, then drop to a simmer, half-covered, and cook until the liquid is absorbed and the grains and cauliflower are soft, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, leave the lid on the pan and allow to continue cooking in the residual heat.
Meanwhile, in a frying pan over medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is translucent.
Put the cooled millet mixture in a large bowl and add the onion mixture. Mix in the tofu, herbs, lemon zest and flour. Taste for seasoning. Refrigerate overnight or at least for a few hours. This will make the millet mixture firmer – a bit like mashed potato.
Use about 2 tablespoons of the millet mixture for each croquette and shape into logs. Carefully dust with extra flour, dip into the eggs, then roll in the rice crumbs. (If leaving out the eggs, also omit the flour. Simply coat with the rice crumbs.)
Heat the rice bran oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Shallow-fry the croquettes in batches until golden all over. Drain on paper towel.
Serve the croquettes with the lime or lemon wedges.
Submitted byJanella Purcell
Tips and Tricks
Rice crumbs can be replaced by breadcrumbs in this recipe to use up that loaf of bread that’s beginning to stale. Frozen bread is also a good option – defrost and crumble by hand for quick breadcrumbs.
Millet is a hugely versatile grain that can be used in both sweet and savoury cooking. Any leftovers can be thrown into salads for a hearty meal, stir-fried, made into bakes or breads, or boiled with milk and a little honey for a warming breakfast.
Keep any leftover lemon or lime well-sealed in cling-wrap in your fridge. Use within 1-2 days to prevent hardening and dehydration.
