Tamale Pie

I decided to go out on a limb and out of my comfort zone on this one... This recipe calls for Tempeh, pronounced Tem-pay. It's fermented soybeans and it's actually quite gross-looking, but the original recipe touted it as being high in protein and it should be delicious if prepared properly. (have I sold you on it yet??) Well, have no fear. It really was well-disguised in this recipe and my husband actually ate it. Granted, I didn't tell him there wasn't actually any meat in there... he didn't notice:)


Filling:
1 medium onion
1 8oz package Tempeh crumbled (easiest to grate it)
2 tea. minced garlic
1 tea. chili powder
1/2 tea salt
2 tea. apple cider vinegar
1 tea maple syrup
1 14oz can tomato sauce
1 15 oz can beans (I used black) drained and rinsed

Crust:
2/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tea. baking powder
1/4 tea salt
1/2 cup milk
1 T. maple syrup
2 T applesauce
1 cup corn kernels
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Saute onion for 4-5 minutes
• Crumble/grate tempeh into pan and brown 2-3 minutes (yes, this was a bit weird looking... see the original recipe for great step-by-step pics)
• Add garlic, chili, 1/2 tea salt, vinegar, 1 tea. maple syrup, tomato sauce, and beans and simmer for a few minutes
• Transfer to a 2 qt. backing dish.
• In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt.
• In a liquid measure, combine milk, syrup and applesauce.
• Stir wet ingredients into the dry and add corn.
• Spread mix over baking dish mix and sprinkle with cheese.
• Bake 15-20 minutes until cornbread mix is set and chesse is melty!

This was quite good, but I think I'm going to try it next time with some ground beef just to see what happens.  I think I could even be a bit lazy and used a boxed cornbread mix supplemented with some corn kernels... we shall see.