Classic Black Bean & Veggie Chilli with Spring Onion & Sweetcorn Cornbread

Both of these dishes are from my new cookery book called Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. It is a vegan cookery book that promised a lot. I'm not planning on going vegan by the way, not at all, but I wanted to broaden my food horizons a bit and thought that this was a tasty filling way to do it.

The book and it's reviews promised the following:  between 200 and 400 calories a portion, filling, nutritionally balanced meals, low fat, tasty meals that don't take very long to cook. That really is a lot. The reviews on Amazon were all really good so I thought I'd try it out. The book came through the post a couple of days ago and I started reading through the recipes. I chose a combination of the classic black bean and veggie chilli and cornbread.

The chilli recipe has a massive long list of ingredients, most of them spices. I'm not usually too good at following recipes but as I felt completely out of my depth with these I followed it (almost) to the letter. The recipe called for three tablespoons of chilli powder and I put in 11/2 teaspoons instead as I knew that Mr VST wouldn't cope with that level of chilli. I also left out the call for a cup of freshly chopped cilantro aka coriander. Mr VST and I both seem to have the gene that makes it taste like washing up liquid. I think I was justified in my slight adjustments. The chilli was as nice as a veggie chilli can be, it wasn't particularly special but it was filling. The portion sizes were certainly generous and it's only 200 calories per portion.

The recommendation is to serve it with either rice or cornbread. I thought I'd go with the cornbread. When I went shopping to get all the ingredients I realised that cornmeal is in fact polenta and my spirits dropped. I can't remember ever really enjoying polenta but I went with it. It makes me think of the Deep South in America and all the John Grisham novels I've read! The cornbread was really easy to make.

Ingredients:
130g polenta (aka cornmeal)
250ml milk of your choice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
63g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp agave nectar
160g (drained) sweetcorn
10 spring onions, finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and spray an 8 inch square baking pan with spray oil.
2. Whisk together the milk and cider vinegar and set aside to curdle.
3. Sift together the polenta, flour and baking powder.
4. Create a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the milk, agave nectar and oil, mix until just combined and fold in the sweetcorn and spring onions.

5. Place the mix into the pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

6. Slice and serve

 

I can't tell you how good this cornbread is. It's awesome! Light and filling at the same time, sweet and a perfect complement to the chilli. It is the first time I can put my hand on my heart and say that I've enjoyed polenta! Try it please, it's so good.

Going back to the promises that the book made this first outing certainly ticked all the boxes. The food was tasty and very filling. I checked out the calorie count for the cornbread and my calculation came out as one calorie less per portion than the recipe says (160 calories) which is much better than the BBC Good Food calculations that's for sure!

I've picked out a few more recipes from this book to try out over the weekend. I'll keep you posted....