I love fonio, which I discovered as a grain in Senegal. Fonio is a fine-grain millet that you can grind into a gluten-free flour. The whole grains can also be cooked as a couscous substitute. The large Senegalese population in France has meant that fonio has become a much more commonplace grain there and this French recipe is for making croquettes from fonio meal (coarsely ground fonio grains).
Prep time: 20 minutes/Cook time: ?? minutes/Serves 4
Ingredients:
150g wholemeal fonio grains (or fine semolina)
50g red lentils
75g sultanas (golden raisins)
1 large Red onion, peeled and chopped
100g Gruyère cream cheese (or other cream cheese)
1 Egg
1 cube Vegetable
1 tbsp French quatre epices (see below) (or ras-el-hanout)
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
300ml Tea
3 tbsp Flour (or starch)
2 tbsp Oil
Water
For the Quatre Epices:
1 tbsp (heaped) black peppercorns
2 tsp whole cloves
2 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
Method:
For the quatre epices, preparation is simplicity itself. Add the black pepper and cloves to a coffee grinder and grind to a smooth powder. Spoon into a tight-lidded jar, add the nutmeg and ginger and mix well. This will store for several weeks in a cupboard.
Place the lentils in a bowl and pour over enough water to come 1cm above the pulses. Set aside to soak for 10 minutes then tip the contents of the bowl into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Place the raisins in a bowl, pour over enough hot tea to cover then set aside.
Measure the volume of the fonio then turn into a saucepan. Add twice the volume of water (about 300ml). Bring the mixture to a bowl, reduce to a simmer and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking until until all the liquid has been absorbed and the fonio is tender.
Mix the gruyère cream with the hot fonio mixture until the cheese is completely incorporated and the grains turn creamy. Take off the heat, add the egg and mix thoroughly to combine. Now mix in the onion, and stir to combine.
Sprinkle flour on a plate then form thick patties from the fonio mixture. Press these in the flour to coat (you should get 8-9).
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and when the oil is hot use to fry half the croquettes for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked through. Set aside in a low oven to keep warm as you cook the next batch.
Serve hot, accompanied by a green salad.
