Chocolate Chilli Pie with a Cornbread Crust

Serves	6
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	1 hour, 30 minutes
Total time	1 hour, 50 minutes
Meal type	Lunch, Main Dish
Misc	Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Hot
Occasion	Casual Party, Halloween
Region	Mexican
By author	Karen Burns-Booth

A rich chilli made with minced beef and chocolate for an authentic Mexican taste - the chocolate enhances the depth of flavour in this comforting dish, and adds a silky richness. Top this with a fluffy cornbread crust and you have a winning pie recipe that all the family will love!

Ingredients

Chilli Pie Filling

450g minced beef
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 medium onions (peeled and diced)
3 cloves garlic (peeled and minced)
1/2 fresh red chilli (de seeded and finely diced)
1 tspn ground cumin
1/2 tspn ground coriander
1/2 tspn dried oregano
1 tspn chilli powder (I used Chipotle chilli powder)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 x 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
1 x 400g tinned red kidney beans (drained)
75g dark chocolate chips
salt and pepper to taste

Cornbread Crust

125g cornmeal or polenta
100g plain flour
150mls milk or buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
salt and black pepper
a little melted butter to glaze the crust

Cornbread Crust (Optional)

bacon drippings

Note

Directions

Step 1	Make the chilli first, OR use leftover cooked chilli to save time.
Step 2	Heat the oil in a large sauce pan or pot. Fry the onion, garlic and fresh chilli gently without colouring for 5 minutes.
Step 3	Add the cumin, coriander, oregano and dried chillies and stir well.
Step 4	Add the minced beef to the onion mixture, and cook for 5 minutes before stirring in the tomato purée, ketchup, drained kidney beans and tomatoes
Step 5	Give it all a stir and bring the chilli to a boil before reducing heat. Add the pieces of chocolate, stir well, then put the lid on the pot and cook over a gently heat for about 1 hour or until the beef is cooked and the chilli has thickened, stirring occasionally. (If it becomes too dry, add a little water.)
Step 6	Season to taste with salt and pepper, and adjust the chilli heat if needed. Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes and then spoon it into a enamel pie tin. Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. (Sit a pie funnel in the middle of the pie tin if using)
Step 7	Make the cornbread crust: in a bowl, combine all the cornbread ingredients including the bacon dripping if using. Spoon the crust dough over the top of the chilli pie filling and around the pie funnel (if using) and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the cornbread crust has risen and it is golden brown. Take the pie out of the oven and brush some melted butter over the crust to give a glaze.
Step 8	Serve straight away with vegetables. (I served mine with a corn, pea and pimento medley that I made myself)