Description
This comforting vegan meat loaf is tender, moist, and full of beautiful savory flavors that combine so perfectly well with the sweet ketchup glaze. You don’t need a lot of ingredients, and it’s gluten-free and oil-free.
Ingredients
for the lentil loaf:
- 1.5 teaspoon flax meal (ground up flax seed) or 2 teaspoons flax seeds
- 4 teaspoons warm water
- 1 onion (155 gram), diced
- 2–3 garlic cloves
- 1 small sweet potato or half a large sweet potato (200 gram) , diced
- 1 carrot or 2 small carrots (100 gram)
- 2 stalks diced celery (150 gram)
- 3 cups (450 gram) cooked lentils*
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast*
- 5 teaspoons pure tomato paste/puree (not ketchup)
- 2 teaspoons tamari*
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon each of dried: rosemary, oregano, ginger, marjoram
- dash ground black pepper
- 1 cup (100 gr) rolled oats
*75 gram (2 to 3 oz) uncooked lentils = approximately 1 cup cooked. When you are using dry lentils for this recipe, you don’t need to soak them before cooking, but rinse the lentils well. Cook one part of lentils to three parts of water for 40 minutes or until tender.
for the glaze:
- 1/2 cup (112 gram) pure tomato paste/puree (not ketchup)
- 1 tablespoon date syrup or maple- or coconut syrup, adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon mild mustard
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a small bowl, mix together the flax seeds and water and set aside to create a ”flax egg”.
In a small bowl, mix together the glaze ingredients and set aside.
Heat a pan over medium heat. When using no oil, use a non-stick pan or make sure to add enough water to prevent the vegetables from burning.
Sauté the diced onion, garlic, celery, carrots and sweet potato over medium-high heat until tender (5-10 minutes), stir occasionally. During the last 2 minutes add in the dried herbs and spices. Remove from heat.
Pour the cooked vegetables into a food processor with the cooked lentils, oats, tomato paste, tamari, nutritional yeast, flax egg and fresh parsley.
Process and pulse a few times until the ingredients are combined, but not completely pureed, so you will still have a semi-chunky texture.
Cover a baking loaf pan with parchment paper and place the mixture in the baking loaf pan.
Cover the loaf with the ketchup glaze, then bake for 30-40 minutes in the oven at 350°F (175°C).
The loaf is done when a fork comes out clean.
Let it cool for 5 minutes before carefully slicing. It is better to let is sit for 30 minutes.
Notes
- You could substitute tamari for liquid aminos or soy sauce (this is not gluten-free)
- Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge (covered) and will last for up to 5 days.
- You can also make this loaf the day before and bake right before serving OR After baking you could (even better) let it sit overnight. Just reheat the loaf in the oven just before you slice it, in order to serve it warm.
- I have no experience with freezing this loaf.