Minoo shared a Mexican fusion recipe for the main course in the South Arm Multicultural Community Kitchen.

The Tamale Pie is a vegetarian dish with a corn meal base and topped with beans for protein and bulgur for high fiber grain.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 14oz canned tomatoes, with juice, mashed
• 19oz canned Romano beans, drained
• 2/3 cup bulgur
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Crust

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 large egg, fork-beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt

Source: South Arm Multicultural Community Kitchen

Instructions

Soak the bulgur in water for 20 minutes, and drain.

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add onion, green pepper and garlic. Saute until soft.

Add tomatoes, Romano beans, bulgur, ketchup, chili powder, salt and pepper to taste. Heat and stir until mixture boils. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until quite thick. Stir often to keep from burning.

For the base, stir cornmeal, baking and salt together in a bowl.

Beat egg, milk and oil in a another small bowl.

Add liquid mixture to cornmeal mixture and stir to combine.

Grease a pie plate with butter. Pour batter into the prepared pie plate, spread evenly.

Pour beans mixture on top of the cornmeal base, spread evenly. Bake in a 350F (175C) preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until firm.