Tamale pie

This was an American Test Kitchen recipe, and while I usually love their recipes, I was not a fan of this particular combination. I have to add, I'm not sure I would like any tamale pie. I enjoy sweet cornbread, but mixing with with chili is just weird for me. That said, their original recipe actually ended up tasting too salty for my preferences. This is the adopted, low-salt version. One can easily turn it into a vegetarian recipe by using soy flakes in place of the ground meat.

Ingredients
2 tbsp oil
1 onion
2 tbsp chili powder
2 medium cloves of garlic
1 pound ground beef
16 oz canned beans
15 oz canned diced tomatoes
3 oz cheddar cheese
2 tbsp cilantro leaves

0.75 cup flour
0.75 cup cornmeal
2 tbsp sugar
0.75 tsp baking powder
0.75 tsp baking soda
0.25 tsp salt
0.75 cup buttermilk
1 egg
3 tbsp melted butter

Preparation
Preheat oven to 450F. Heat the oil and add the diced onion, chili powder and 0.25 tsp salt. Cook for 5 minutes, until onions are softened. Add crushed garlic and cook for one minute.

Stir in meat, beans and tomatoes. Break up meat while stirring and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in chopped cilantro and grated cheddar. Set aside.

Mix all dry ingredients for the cornbread: flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda. Whisk egg with buttermilk.

Mix dry mixture with buttermilk mix. Add in melted butter until just combined. Distribute on top of filling in oven-proof pan.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, serve.