Spicy Black Bean Chili With Cornbread Topping

I love chili! What’s not to like?…there’s meat and beans in a sauce, just packed with flavor. And if you like spicy foods you, it’s one dish that takes the heat well without being hot for hot sake. Makes sense? (probably not, but you get the gist.) Anyway, if you happen to love chili like I do, you’ll know there’s no better combination than a warm sweet piece of cornbread with chili, so why not have the two in one dish, ingenius right? Well before you give me all the credit this recipe is adapted from the TV show “Nigella Lawson Feast”, but is my chili all the way.

Spicy Black Bean Chili with Cornbread Topping Recipe

Ingredients for the Chili:
1-1 1/2 lb of Lean ground beef
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 red Bell Pepper, diced
1 Jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
3 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 can (12-14 ounce) diced tomatoes
1 can (14 ounce) Black Beans, drained & rinsed
Spices-
1 tsp Corriander powder
1 tsp Black pepper
1 Tsp Crushed red pepper
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp hungarian paprika
1 tbsp Red chili powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
Salt to taste

Method:
– Start by sauteeing a chopped onion on medium heat, in a deep pan or pot.
– Once the onion goes soft and just about starts turning golden, add your ground beef or chuck.
– When the meat is nice and brown, throw in some minced garlic…
– and some diced red bell pepper
– Then add the all the spices and stir well.
– Pour in a can of diced tomatoes and 3 tablespoons of tomato paste.
– Add a cup or 2 of water and bring to a boil. Then throw in a finely chopped fresh jalapeno pepper (with the seeds if you like it hot or without)
– Drain and rince a can of black beans and toss them in.
– Stir in the beans. Lower the heat to low and let it simmer for 20 mins.
– Add a hanful of roughly chopped cilantro or parsely

For the cornbread topping you’ll need:
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp honey
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2 tbsp melted butter
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk

Method:
– The in the bowl of your kicthenaid or mixer, add all the dry ingredients (i.e cornmeal, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.) and mix together well.
– In a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients…yogurt, milk, eggs, honey and melted butter.
– Then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix with the whisk.

To assemble the dish:
– Dish the chili into an ovenproof casserole dish. Around half way full/ or 3/4th way if it’s a large dish.
– spoonover the cornbread mixture, making sure not to get all the way to top (or it’ll overflow)
– Bake in an oven preheated to 360 for 20 mins or utill the cornbread is done and slightly brown on the top.

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