Sweet millet bake with cheese and raisins without sugar

omething different today!

I had this recipe in my file for over 20 years. It comes from Austria from a lovely lady called Ingrid. In my early twenties I used to be an au-pair for her two young children in a town called Graz which is about 3 hours from the Italian border. I really enjoyed my time there and I managed to learn a bit of German too.

This recipe known as: “Hirse Auflauf” is made with millet cooked in milk and it is incredibly moreish. I used to make it often when I went back to Italy but then I kind of forgot about it.

Millet is a gluten-free seed packed with vitamins and minerals but it is often overlooked. Some people think of it as just “bird food” but this is certainly not the case. It is an excellent food to introduce into your diet as it has many health benefits with many important nutrients including phosphorus, copper, manganese and magnesium.

This bake only has 2 tbsp of honey instead of sugar. It is also made with quark cheese, eggs, milk, vanilla, lemon zest and raisins. Although it is slightly sweet I had it for dinner last night and I never seemed to have enough of it, I just love its soft and rich consistency.

I changed the recipe slightly to make it larger to serve 4 people.

Ingredients

• Millet – 130 g – 0.70 cups
• milk – 500 ml – 17 fluid oz
• eggs – 3
• lemon zest – of 1 lemon
• honey – 2 tbsp
• Quark cheese – 500 g – 2 + 1/2 cup
• rum of liquor of your choice (optional) – 2 tbsp
• butter – 50 g – 1/4 cup
• vanilla essence – 1 tsp
• salt – pinch
• raisins – 2 tbsp

Instructions

Rinse the millet under the tap with hot water; this will help to remove its bitterness.

Put the millet in a sauce pan with the milk and the salt and bring to the boil. Cook uncovered over a gentle heat for about 10 minutes. Stir from time to time. Switch the heat off and let the millet cool down. You will find that it will have absorbed all the milk.

Mix the egg yolks with the honey, add the lemon zest, the liquor (if using), the vanilla essence, the raisins add the melted butter (which should be cold). Add the quark cheese and mix well.

Whip the egg whites and gently stir them into the mixture.

Pour onto a greased baking tray (measuring approx 18 x 28 cm or 7 x 11 inch) and cook at 200C or 390F for 30 minutes. During the last 10 minutes of cooking you can add a few flakes of butter on top if you like (for a more glossy look).

You might find that as it cooks the top gets dark too quickly. If this is the case just cover it up with tin foil and continue cooking it.

Enjoy warm.

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