Basil Pesto Millet Risotto

Posted On October 20, 2018

Usually, Arborio rice is used for making risotto, but I used two types of millet to prepare basil pesto risotto to improve its nutritional value. If you compare the nutrition chart of both, you will find that millets are high in dietary fibers, iron, protein, minerals, and vitamins than arborio rice.

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 45 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 cup Pearl Millet

1/2 cup Kodo millet

1 cup Basil Pesto (For Pesto preparation, please refer Pesto Sauce Green Pasta)

1/4 cup chopped Red bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped Green bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped Yellow bell pepper

3 red chilies (crush it to make Chili flakes)

5-6 cloves Garlic

1 medium sized Onion

6-7 Cherry tomatoes

Olives as per your taste

3 teaspoon Olive oil

Parmesan cheese as per your taste

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Preparation method:

Soak millet in warm water for 3-4 hrs.

Prepare pesto sauce. For its recipe, please refer Pesto Sauce Green Pasta

After resting period, take two teaspoons of olive oil in a pan. Once it is heated, add garlic, chili flakes and sauté it. Take care that garlic doesn’t burn.

Then add onions, let it cook till it becomes translucent. Later, add all three bell peppers, stir it and add soaked millets to it.

      

Mix it well, add water and salt to taste. Don’t add entire water at a time, you can add in batches as needed. Cover it and let it cook around 30 min. Cooking time may differ, just keep checking in between for water and al-dente texture(i.e soft from outside and crunchy from inside)

        

As you feel that millet is about to cook, add pesto sauce, cherry tomatoes, olives, mix it and let it cook for 2 min.

Garnish it with grated cheese, chopped coriander and serve hot.