……when she said, “Little pot, cook,” would cook good, sweet millet porridge, and when she said, ” Little pot, stop,” it stopped cooking. The girl took the pot home to her mother, and now they were freed from their poverty and hunger, and ate sweet porridge as often as they chose………

…………”Little pot, stop,” and it stopped cooking, and anyone who wished to return to the town had to eat his way back.

Sweet Porridge by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Sweet Porridge is one of my child’s favorite tales and he keeps asking me to tell him the story again and again and again, you know how children are when they like something. Anyway he enjoyed the story but he was interested in the sweet millet porridge too. He kept asking me to prepare him sweet porridge or pappa dolce as we call it in Italian. He knew what millet is because I cook it often,  but I never made a sweet version of it so I decided to try one. We used the magic pot to cook it and when the porridge was ready I forgot what to say to make it stop. I kept trying different phrases and my son had his eyes and mouth wide open and then big smile came across his face when he realized that the sweet porridge might reach our neighbors house so they could have a taste of it too. I finally remembered the right phrase and the pot stopped cooking and we enjoyed it together. He actually enjoyed it so much that he keeps asking me to cook it again.

I prepared sweet millet porridge for dinner, but by sweet it doesn’t actually mean that I used sugar as milk is already sweet on its own, but this preparation can be modified according to your taste and preferences. I served it for dinner but it can be eaten for breakfast or lunch as well. I also added raisins and pine nuts to enrich the dish or you can keep it simple. It will be good either way.
Sweet millet porridge reminds me of my riso e latte so I suppose it’s going to be added to our family comfort food dish list.

Sweet millet porridge

2 cups hulled millet
2 quarts whole milk
a pinch of sea salt
2 tsp. honey (optional)
1/2 1 tsp. natural vanilla extract
1/4 cup organic raisins with no sugar added, soften in lukewarm water for 20 minutes
pine nuts for topping

Wash the millet until the water runs out clear. Put it in a pot and toast it for about 4-5 minutes mixing it with a wooden spoon. When toasted add the milk previously warmed up with the vanilla, cover it and let it simmer at low heat for about 20 minutes then mix it and cook it uncovered until the millet becomes soft and creamy.
Mix in the honey, raisins and cook for a few more minutes. Top the millet porridge with pine nuts and serve.
Remember the magic word to stop the pot otherwise you’ll end up with a neighborhood full of porridge.