Chef Bela Gil’s pesto-millet balls: A lockdown-friendly recipe

We’ve been asking our Recipes for Change chefs to tell us how they are adapting to life during the coronavirus pandemic – and to share a delicious recipe that can be made with basic cupboard ingredients.

Chef Bela Gil joined us from Brazil with a mouthwatering recipe for pesto-millet balls – a simple, nutritious dish that you can prepare from the comfort of your home.

Ingredients

For the millet

• 120 g millet
• Pinch of salt

For the pesto

• 60 g of fresh basil (Optional: Half basil and half another fresh green herb of choice, for example cilantro or parsley)
• 30 g pine nuts, cashew nuts or walnuts
• 75 g olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• A few drops of lemon juice
• Optional: 25 g parmesan cheese
• Salt to taste

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Directions

For the millet

1. Cook the millet in 240 ml of water for 20 minutes.

For the pesto

1. Blend all ingredients in a food processor to obtain a smooth paste.

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C.

2. Thoroughly mix the millet into the pesto.

3. Using your hands, roll and shape the mixture into balls (each about the size of a ping-pong ball).

4. Bake for 30 minutes.

Serve as an appetizer or as a tasty side dish.

Chef Bela Gil joined the Recipes for Change campaign this year despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a chef, nutritionist, author and activist who advocates for a holistic, conscious approach to food through her work.

We are very excited to have her on board!

Check out her profile here.

Publication date: 05 May 2020