Vegetarian Chili with Corn Bread Topping

This recipe comes from the New York Times Cooking page. It was labeled under vegetarian comfort food, a description with which I heartily concur. This was a little complicated, and made a hella dishes, but it was worth it in the end and made for excellent leftovers.

I deviated a bit from the recipe, as I had no cardamom (pods, or otherwise) at the beach house where I made this, a problem which I will rectify once this third-major-snowstorm-in-as-many-weeks clears up. Neither did I use lentil beans, opting instead for simple kidney beans. I also skipped the ketchup, and did include freshly ground cloves. It all ended up with a nice spicy kick.

I used plain yogurt in lieu of buttermilk for the topping which made it more thick and therefore couldn't really be spread, but rather glopped onto the casserole. It did turn out nicely browned, and tasty. We were also surprised at how easily everything came out of the dish, in neat little rectangles.