Seasoned Cornbread casserole

 

Oh well, there is no story behind this dish. I was just browsing through the Wine & Dine section of NYTimes and saw some gorgeous Thanksgiving recipes. Though that is not a festival celebrated in India, and it is still weeks away for the actual festival, I thought, why not make it this weekend !Also since the winter is finally arriving in Hyderabad, making something with cornmeal sounded just appropriate.

And there… I tried this, and loved the way it tasted. Its like a whole package – taste with great health packed in it.
Since we are not vegans, I did not feel the need to use applesauce or non-dairy milk. Yogurt did the trick for me, as usual.
Also, I didn’t have any Cajun seasoning at hand, so I reached out to my herb tray (one of most favourite items in my kitchen. This tray full of dried herbs – oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary, dill, parsley, chilli flakes, two varieties of basil, some seasonings, couple of varieties of pepper – most of these from Keya) and mixed the seasoning per the family’s palette, and that worked too.
By the time the vegetable mixture was made, the whole kitchen started smelling curry-like, and very appetizing. :-)

Original recipe here.

Ingredients
For the vegetable preparation-
Tomatoes , medium sized – 6, diced
Onion , medium sized – 2, diced
Garlic cloves 6
Bell pepper –1 seeded and diced
Mixture of kidney and chick-pea beans - 1 cup , soaked for atleast 6 hours and pressure cooked
Olive oil – 2 tbsp

For the cornbread-
Cornmeal or makkai ata – 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 1/2 teaspoons
Pinch of salt
Yogurt – 1 1/4 Cup
Garlic – 3 cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning (commercial blend, or make your own)

For the seasoning -
Equal measures (atleast 1 tbsp) of the following -
Coarsely ground black pepper
Coarsely ground white/green pepper
Dried Basil
Dried Oregano
Dried Thyme
Ground Coriander
Ground Cumin
Red chilli flakes
Chilli powder

Instructions

1. In a skillet or a pan, heat the oil and sauté the onions and bell peppers till they are cooked. Add some seasoning, approximately 2 tbsps to this so that the vegetable mixture has its own flavour.
2. Add the boiled kidney beans and the chick-peas and mix well and take the skillet off the heat.
3. Now prepare for the bread. Preheat the oven to 200 C
4. Mix the corn bread, baking powder, salt, finely chopped garlic and the seasoning. Add yogurt to this and mix well. This mixture should be spreadable.
5. In the baking dish, pour the vegetable-bean mixture and press well.
6. Now spread the bread batter on top of this evenly and bake for 30 mins, or till a tester comes out clean

My Notes

1. Since cornbread was never a favourite in the house, the next time I make it, I will add more seasoning to the cornbread batter. And also some green finely chopped green chillies, may be some roasted onions and some cilantro leaves. This is just to remove the very corn-like smell from the corn-bread
2. In an attempt to salvage the nutrients in the tomatoes, I did not drain out the water from them. This , thankfully , did not make the bread soggy but all this water settled at the bottom of the dish, along with the vegetables. So next time around, I will add some salt to the tomatoes and let the water drain by. May be I will drink the water just as it is, like how I did to the water left over from the boiled kidney beans :-)