As we speak, my vegan lentil loaf is in the oven.
I have been wanting to find a good vegan meatloaf recipe for a few years. I could never find one that held together and that we liked. After all, a vegan meatloaf is a far stretch from the real thing. This recipe held together and sliced beautifully.
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| My lentil loaf after I removed it from a square pan |
I found a recipe on a wonderful whole food plant-based blog called Nutmeg Notebook- authored by Tami.
Her recipes are oil-free and mostly gluten-free-says Tami. I was really impressed with her site and am going to explore more of her delicious looking recipes.
Although I'm cooking oil free, remember that oil-free does not necessarily mean fat-free. Oil-free recipes may still use good fats such as avocado, nuts, and seeds.
I wanted to the lentil loaf recipe precisely, but I did not have all the ingredients- so I improvised with what I had on hand and also aligned with our personal taste preferences.
We liked it. Did I love it? I'm not sure what I was expecting. I guess I thought it would taste like meatloaf (which I have not tasted in over 42 years because I have been eating a vegetarian diet)
My lentil loaf was sort of creamy in the middle (but good). I sliced it and crisped it up in my air fryer- we loved that.
It will be a perfect item to pack if I need to bring my lunch anywhere. It holds together great. I will probably take it for a long road trip we are taking in a few weeks.
I froze packets of slices to use in the future.
Since I made so many substitutions, I'm not sure how Tami's recipe would have turned out.
I might have liked it somewhat dryer but I can't fault her recipe since I made multiple substitutions.
For example:
I used salsa instead of tomato paste
I used amino acids instead of balsamic vinegar (I'm allergic)
I dislike nutritional yeast, so I omitted it.
I didn't make the date glaze, I just used ketchup.
Tami's recipe Lentil Loaf with Date Glaze
I made a lentil loaf years ago. It was actually very good and of course I suffered a lot after eating half of it at one set. I guess that's why I can never be a vegetarian. I actually quite like nutritional yeast. You should get non fortified, which tastes so much better!
ReplyDeleteNut roasts are another vegan/vegetarian type of loaf. Here's a link to a great post about them:
ReplyDeletehttps://gggiraffe.blogspot.com/2008/03/neb-at-nut-roast-invitation.html
best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I do like a good lential and nut loaf. Johanna over at Green Gourmet Giraffe makes some awesome variations. If i remember, i hope to give this recipe a go esp. as i have most if not all the ingredients at home minus the date glaze, it looks really good to me.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds good. I've always wanted to try to make one, but have yet to get around to it. I'm not a vegetarian but do follow a very Mediterranean lifestyle so I eat very little beef.
ReplyDeleteYes, the trick is to get the lentil loaf to stick together. I use a flaxmeal egg to help my lentil loaf stick together. Thanks for sharing the link. Will pin this post.
ReplyDeleteFinding a mixture that holds together is always a challenge. Looks like this version worked great! Crisping cut pieces is a great idea too.
ReplyDeleteI am not as adventurous as you.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting! I'll bet it's tasty.
ReplyDeleteLentil loaf can be good. I never think of it as a meat loaf substitute, though -- just as an interesting dish in its own right.
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting, I had bad reactions to amino acids which I took when I was vegetarian. Why are you cooking oil free?
ReplyDelete