Millet Spring Risotto with Beetroot

Baltic cuisine is full of culinary surprises - recipe tip from the cookery book "Baltic States" by Zuza Zak.

Ingredients

• 3 young beetroot, with stalks and leaves
• salt
• 3 EL cold pressed rapeseed oil
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 250 g millet
• 25 ml whitewine
• 1 l hot vegetable stock
• 1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with a knife blade and ½ tsp salt
• 200 g spinach leaves, shredded (optional)
• 2 EL chopped dill, plus a little more for garnish
• black pepper from the mill
• 1 EL lemon juice
• 100 g lancashire cheese, alternatively feta or goat's cheese, crumbled
• 1 EL butter
• 2 EL fermented beetroot elixir (optional)
• 5 EL sour cream
• fermented garlic sprouts (optional)

Steps

1. Preparation:
2. Wash the beetroot thoroughly. Cut off the stalks and leaves, roughly chop the stalks and shred the larger leaves.
3. Cook the unpeeled tubers in a pan of boiling salted water for about 30 minutes. Drain and leave to cool, then peel and dice. Put to the side.
4. Heat the rapeseed oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Sauté the onion in it for 2 to 3 minutes until translucent, then add the beetroot stalks and fry for another minute or so, stirring regularly.
5. Stir in the millet and pour in the wine. Boil briefly until the alcohol evaporates, then add 1 ladle of stock and reduce. Continue in this way until about half the stock has been used up, then stir in the garlic.
6. Gradually add the rest of the stock until the millet is cooked (about 15 minutes) - no need to stir regularly.
7. Add the beetroot leaves (or spinach), diced beetroot and dill. Stir and heat until the leaves fall apart.
8. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice and check whether the millet is cooked - if not and the stock has been used up, add a little more boiling water and continue cooking.
9. Finally, stir in the cheese, butter, fermented beetroot elixir (if using) and all - except for a small amount - of the sour cream.
10. Garnish with dill and a few fermented garlic sprouts (if using), top with a dollop of sour cream and serve hot.