Middle Eastern-Style Slow Cooked Baked Beans (Vegan Friendly)

I wanted to make baked beans to go with this recipe: Tetlow Coleslaw and using one can of kidney beans and one lonely can (that mysteriously and magically appeared on our pantry shelf??) of Trader Joe's chicken chili came up with this fast and simple recipe. A quick homemade version of chicken chili is given below. All amounts of ingredients are estimated. Omit the ground chicken for the vegan version. *Update* Last time I prepared this recipe I substituted date syrup (dibs tamar) for the brown sugar.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can dark red kidney beans, save the liquid (you can use freshly cooked kidney beans if you prefer)
• 1 (15 ounce) can  chicken chilli
• 2  tablespoons pomegranate molasses
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  dried chipotle powder (can add more if you wish)
• 1  teaspoon  sumac
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1  small  whole cinnamon stick
• 1⁄4 cup dark brown sugar (can sub honey, raw sugar, etc.)
• 1  medium yellow onion, peeled, finely minced (I used a food processor to finely mince the onion and garlic)
• 1 -2  garlic clove
•  salt, to taste
•  black pepper, to taste

• (Homemade Chicken Chili)

• 1⁄3 lb  cooked ground chicken (can sub beef, turkey, etc.)
• 2  cups  red beans
• 1⁄4 cup tomato paste (or tomato sauce)
• 1⁄2  fresh jalapeno, finely minced (this is optional)
• 1⁄2 cup red bell pepper, finely minced
• 2  tablespoons  raw apple cider vinegar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon paprika
• 1⁄3 lb  cooked ground chicken (can sub beef, turkey, etc.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300º.
2. HOMEMADE CHICKEN CHILI: If using homemade chicken chili first brown the ground chicken in a little bit of oil.
3. Add the cooked ground chicken and the remaining chicken chili ingredients to the casserole dish.
4. CHILI: Place all the ingredients in a 2-quart ovenproof casserole dish. Cover.
5. Bake for 2 hours, stirring a few times to make sure the beans don't become to dry. If they are a little on the dry side, add a small amount of the reserved bean liquid or broth.
6. Also, the oven temperature can be reduced to 275º if the beans appear to be drying out. I reduced the temperature to 275º the final 30 minutes of baking.