Bean chilli with cinnamon and bay

By: Claire Thomson
From: The Art Of The Larder
Photographer: Mike Lusmore

Tinned beans made ballsy. I’ve given two additional variations here: baked under a blanket of cornbread, or roasted in peppers with cheese and sour cream. Be bold with the chilli and generous with the chopped salad, all spiky with lime juice and seasoned with salt.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
2 tablespoons	vegetable, sunflower, or olive oil
1	cinnamon stick
2	bay leaves
2	celery stalks, finely diced
1	green pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
1	large onion, finely diced
2-3	garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 teaspoon	smoked paprika – hot or sweet, depending on taste
1 teaspoon	cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 x 400g	tin of tomatoes
3 x 400g	tins of assorted beans, rinsed and drained
	chipotle chilli paste, (optional, or use chilli flakes, to taste)
	salt
a small bunch	fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped

For the chopped salad

Quantity	Ingredient
	avocado, diced small
	ripe tomatoes, diced small
	red onion, finely sliced or diced
	salt, to taste
	freshly squeezed lime, juiced, to taste

To serve

Quantity	Ingredient
	sour cream
	Homemade chilli sauce

Method

Put the oil into a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a moderate heat and fry the cinnamon, bay leaves, celery, green pepper and onion until the vegetables are soft, about 8–10 minutes. Add the garlic and ground spices and fry for another couple of minutes.
Add the tinned tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add the drained beans, mixing thoroughly. Add the chilli paste or flakes, if using, and season with salt, then cook over a moderate heat for 5 minutes for the beans to heat up and the flavours to meld, checking the seasoning.
Take the pan off the heat and add the coriander, then mix well and set to one side.
Use the cornbread recipe, omitting the honey and oregano. Use the bean recipe, hot or cold, freshly made or from the fridge – either is fine to bake under the cornbread.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Pour the beans into a medium-sized high-sided oven dish.
Prepare the cornbread mix and pour evenly over the surface of the beans, leaving no gaps.
Bake in the hot oven for 20–25 minutes, until the cornbread is firm to touch and golden, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the bread (not the beans!) comes out clean.
Mix together the ingredients for the chopped salad.
Remove from the oven and serve with the chopped salad, sour cream and chilli sauce if you like.

Note

Baked under Cornbread

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Bean chilli with cinnamon and bay

Ingredients

For the chopped salad

To serve

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