Wow, sorry for not posting for so long – I’ve been really busy over the past two weeks as I’ve started to work at the Albert Schweitzer Stiftung für unsere Mitwelt finally, yeah! It’s a foundation that informs people about animal rights and welfare, the circumstances in agriculture and of course about vegan diets and nutrition. I’m so happy there, this is exactly what I want to do. I’m in the research department doing literature search, writing articles, dealing with recipes, vegan nutrition, health and psychological strategies for campaigning and marketing. Ok, now on to the new recipe ; )

Confession #1: I love millet (German: Hirse). Confession #2: I always thought of it as a pretty boring, old-fashioned, difficult-to-prepare cereal grandmas would force their grandchildren to eat cause ‘it’s so good for you’. No, really, I’ve never tried it until a few months ago when I started to eat vegan and found out how much iron it contains (100g provide you with half the amount of iron you need per day). On top, it’s also a good source of plant protein, B-vitamins (no B12 though unfortunately) and beta-carotin. Just make sure to have it with a glass of orange juice, add some lemon juice on top or whatever contains vitamin C, so that your body can absorb the iron easily.

One more thing before we start: When I personally read blogs, I always wanna know who the blogger is, what they do, how they work – so to give you a little insight in how my standard cooking set up looks like, here it is: my boyfriend’s kitchen, fresh vegetables, a cup of tea and a bit of German trash TV ; )

Now grab a packet of millet and get cooking – serves three.

For the gratin itself…

• 1 cup of raw millet (or about 2.5 cups cooked)
• 1 can of tomatoes
• 1 carrot
• half a zucchini (courgette)
• 2 spring onions or 1 red onion
• 2 big mushrooms
• half a bell pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• for seasoning: pepper, salt, oregano, basil, paprika powder

For the nutritional yeast ‘cheese’ sauce (Hefeschmelz)…

• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast (Hefeflocken)
• 2 tbsp vegan margarine (in Germany, e.g. Alsan, Deli Reform or Sojola)
• 3 tbsp flour
• 250ml water
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar
• pepper, salt

Optional: bread crumbs for a crispy crust

Start cooking the millet according to package instructions. Meanwhile, cut up the vegetables in small pieces, heat a pan with little oil and fry them. Start with carrots, then bell pepper, then zucchini, onions and then the mushrooms. To shorten the softening process a bit, add some water to the carrots and ‘cook’ them for a few minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, season to taste and set aside.

Mix the millet and the vegetable sauce in a casserole and preheat your oven to about 180°C (350 F).

Prepare the nutrional yeast ‘cheese’ sauce (Hefeschmelz) by melting the margarine in a little pot or pan. When it’s melted, add the flour and stir with an egg whisk or spoon so that there are no big chunks in it. Pour in the nutritional yeast and water and stir until well combined. Switch off the heat and season with mustard, lemon juice/vinegar, pepper and salt. Now cover your gratin with it and sprinkle some spices and bread crumbs (not on this picture) over it if you like.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the gratin turned crispy and golden. You can also top this dish with lemon juice (iron!), sunflower seeds and basil to taste. Guten Apo : )

/Thanks for reading! If you like my stuff (or have suggestions), feel free to like, share and/or leave a comment. You can also join me on Facebook. Every like & comment welcome!