It seems so strange to me that just a few years ago I never used nut butters. Though I ate peanut butter as a child, that’s the only one I’d had. Now they’re very much a staple in my diet and I eat them almost every day. Nuts are so fantastic for you- packed with protein, fibre and essential fats and they all have their own extra nutrition credentials- calcium, selenium, zinc, iron, magnesium, etc. And they’re super tasty of course!
Nut butters are great for cooking and add flavour and richness. And though I do use oil in moderation, I like to use more whole foods where possible so nut butters are an ideal oil alternative.
Meridian is my favourite UK brand. Their nut butters are pure and simple, made from just roasted nuts, no salt or sugar, and best of all, no palm oil (unlike the majority of brands)! (See here for more info on why we should all be avoiding palm oil).
There are so many options available these days and Meridian make peanut, almond, cashew and hazelnut butters as well as tahini, sunflower seed and pumpkin seed butters! It’s impossible for me to pick a favourite but since I’d been neglecting the classic peanut butter recently I brought it back into my life with this tasty African-inspired Peanutty Millet.
This is another fab weeknight dinner recipe as it’s quick and satisfying. I loved the leftovers cold for lunch the next day too so it would be a nice one for if you pack food for work or school.
Millet, peanuts, ginger and the other spices I’ve used here are typical of West-African cuisine and all meld together nicely to provide lots of interesting texture and flavour.
Ingredients
- 2/3 C Dry millet (Approx 2 1/2 C Cooked Millet)
- 1 Tbsp Coconut oil
- 1 Small onion, diced
- 4 Cloves garlic, minced
- 1 " Ginger, minced
- 1 Red chili, seeds removed and minced
- 1 Small cauliflower, broken into florets
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Coriander
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp Salt
- 2 Tbsp Peanut butter
- 1 Medium tomato, chopped
- 1 Tbsp Tomato purée
- 2/3 C Water (+ 1/4C)
- 3-4 C Spinach (loosely packed)
- 1/4C Chopped roasted peanuts
Instructions
- Cook your millet if you're not using leftover cooked millet.
- Toast the millet in a dry pan for 4-5 minutes until it smells fragrant (optional). Add 1 1/3 C water (1: 2 ratio millet to water). Bring to boil, then turn down heat and simmer on low for approx 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Leave to sit, covered, off the heat, for 10 minutes then fluff with a fork. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Cook the onion, garlic, ginger, chili and cauliflower for approx 5 minutes.
- Add the spices and salt and stir well to coat the vegetables.
- Add the tomatoes, peanut butter and water, stir well and cover. Simmer for approx 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender but not mushy. If the mixture looks a little dry add the remaining 1/4 C water. Add the spinach and cook just until wilted.
- Stir through the millet, making sure it's all well coated with the sauce.
- Serve topped with the roasted peanuts.
Notes
If you don't have/ don't want to use millet, brown rice works as a substitute.
Meridian nut butters are widely available across the UK in supermarkets and health food stores.
What’s your favourite nut butter? Or are you like me and love them all!
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Disclaimer: Meridian Foods sent me a selection of nut butters to sample but, as always, all opinions are my own. I was not compensated in any other way for this post.
Thanks for that link on palm oil-I had no idea.
I’m a PB lover through & through. Though cashew & almond butter are pretty awesome too.
This recipe looks delish!
Palm oil’s a pretty nasty business. There are moves towards “sustainable” palm oil but I’m not sure even that is much better…
Almond butter is probably the nut butter I use most. It just works well with everything!
I have only ever eaten peanut butter - which I absolutely love, I have seen other types of nut butter in my local health food shop but have not know what to do with them, other than smother them on toast - I think that I shall have to buy some and give this recipe a try.
Oh gosh you must try some other ones. Have a browse on here as I use various different kinds in other recipes of mine. I recommend you try almond first! Everyone seems to love it
Oooh, that looks awesome! I love African-inspired dishes, especially ones containing peanuts. Of course millet would go splendidly with those flavors, I’ll have to try it sometime!
Great. Hope you do give it a try! It’s not a cuisine I usually go towards but it was a fun change.
I love Meridian nut butters, I buy a lot of them, although I do also make my own regularly too. I like their crunchy almond butter and their roasted hazelnut butter best
They’re great aren’t they?! Their almond is probably my favourite too (smooth for me though).
The colors alone make me want to eat this!
Thanks Annie. It kept my tummy happy for a good few meals
What a fantastic-looking dish! I do love Meridian, their almond butter is simply the best and usually doesn’t last the week (or even a few days) in my home. I’ll give this a try as I’ve got yet another bunch of cauliflower in my weekly veg bag and I am getting tired of potato and cauliflower curry…
Have you seen they now do 1kg tubs of almond butter?! Pretty amazing for nut butter fiends like us
I have loads of jars of nut butter right now though so need to get to work on those before I think about buying any more!
That tub is DANGEROUS! Haha! I can’t allow myself to buy it, I’m scared to think how soon it would be finished by me alone.
Those drippy nut butter shots never fail to get me!!
😉
Yuum! This ticks all of my ‘favourite’ food boxes - albeit I have a lot of those - and the blend of peanut with spices is so appealing. I am also a relatively recent convert to nut butters and it’s bizarre to think I didn’t have them a few years ago. Like you, they are now a daily or near daily staple!
Know the feeling. I feel like all foods are my “favourites”!!
Hurrah for nut butters!
This looks soooooo good Emma, I just love all the spices and flavors going on here! I bet the smells are fantastic too! I am SO with you, as you know, on nut butters. I eat them daily, almond butter, the most, but pecan butter is my favorite. I roast my pecans first and they become so sweet and silky and creamy…nothing comes close to the consistency. I don’t make it as often as almond butter because it is more expensivem, but it is certainly my favorite. Meridian looks like a wonderful company of nut butters!
I’ve only made pecan butter once but it was pretty mind-blowing! I’ve had the best luck with roasted nut butters at home to get them really silky smooth. Dastony are the best raw nut butters though
I love Meridians nut butters, cashew, almond and hazelnut are my faves.
Haha, that’s like all of them! So agree though 😀
Now I understand when you said you had a lot of nut butters. We’re clearing our pantry out and I think we just have almond butter and peanut butter… and not much left, at that! This looks delicious!
I’d send some to you if you weren’t so far away!
it looks delicious!
Im not a fan of nut butters at all (I know, weird!) but have never thought of using them in cooking instead - Im loving this recipe and your beautiful images have inspired me to try this tomorrow for dinner!
No way! I can’t imagine NOT liking nut butters! Hope you liked the recipe if you got to try it
peanut butter was my first love and I think it is still my favourite but I also really love cashew butter and lately have been eating a hazeelnut cacao butter. What I really love is freshly ground peanut butter - it is so good when freshly done (from a health food shop because I haven’t got the equipment! Love the peanutty millet - I have never had any success with cooking millet but this sounds like a great way to serve it
Freshly ground peanut butter is an amazing thing! You have a food processor don’t you? That’s all I’ve ever used to make nut butters.
You should definitely give millet another chance. It’s a nice change from rice or quinoa
This looks interesting! Although I’m allergic to peanuts, so I’m going to try and substitute with almond. Or perhaps tahini is better?
I think I would go with almond butter and chopped almonds for the topping. Peanut butter has a stronger flavour but I think it will still be tasty with almond.
I’m hooked on the Meridian butters too! We’ve now resorted to buy the huge tubs of peanut butter as we get through it so quick!
Your African dish look so warming and yummy. I really want to try millet but haven’t managed to find it in the shops yet. Do you know if it’s available in Harvest… or am I better off ordering online?
I don’t blame you! It’s just me at home and I get through enough of the stuff!
Glad you like the look of the dish. And yes millet is available from Harvest- that’s where i get it. It’s sold in the bulk bins.
I love almond butter, but peanut is still my favourite. It’s the most universally appealing - I mean, what DOESN’T peanut butter go well with? I was in Infinity Foods earlier and was quite surprised to find the Suma nut butter was cheaper than Whole Earth, so I grabbed it and I don’t think I can go back. The richness of pure peanuts and salt is unbeatable:D
You’re always using interesting grains! There are hardly actual bags of grains any in my flat - just a sad, probably never-to-be-used again quarter packet of bulgur and an irritated packet of quinoa that’s been waiting for me to buy it a fine mesh sieve for about half a year. XD To be honest I thought millet was a type of bird food.
However, you’ve put the word “peanut,” in the title, so I assume this recipe is delicious. It certainly LOOKS delicious, and its been ages since I’ve used peanuts in a savoury dish… Do you reckon it would work with another grain?
I’m glad the natural PB has won you over! Far superior in my eyes 😉
If you don’t want to use the millet (it’s a great grain by the way, definitely not just for birds!) then I would recommend brown rice. You want something with a bit more texture than quinoa. Hope you enjoy! x
Oh! I had this for dinner tonight and it was incredible! I didn’t have spinach on hand, so I substituted bok choy and added some sugar snap peas. This was really fun to make, and even more fun to eat! 😀
You. Are the champion of delish.
Haha, you’re too kind. I do love that title though 😉
Thanks again for trying my recipes.