Friday Night Dinners: Lentil Loaf

When I was young I decided that I wanted to stop eating meat.  I will never forget that last piece of red meat that I ate. The quintessential Sunday Dinner- the pot roast. I remember making a big show of choking it down, being dramatic and making it seem as though I might die if I was made to finish it.

But my parents were well versed in my melodramatic ways by then and they didn’t even really bat an eyelash. And that was that. I was on the road to vegetarianism.

My mom was pretty laissez faire on the whole subject. She continued on making her regular meals of bbq chicken legs or roast meat cooked with vegetables. All she said on the subject was “You can either eat the vegetables (which had been cooked with the meat juice) or you can make yourself a peanut butter sandwich”.

Needless to say, I ate a lot of sandwiches. It might sound callus but I’m quite grateful. It’s purely because of this that I learned to cook! Now, 20+ years and a few health scares later, I finally have her putting lentils in almost everything, which I consider a huge personal victory.

My dad on the other hand was a different story. You would assume that a man who hunted on a regular basis wouldn’t be too impressed with the whole thing, but he went out of his way to make vegetarian meals for me.

Still to this day, whenever I come to visit there are always lots of vegetarian recipes waiting for me for us to cook together. They both even eat vegetarian for pretty much the whole time that I’m visiting. I take it for granted sometimes, but it’s so nice.

Although I have no memory of ever having had meatloaf before, it has always seemed pretty appealing to me.

This lentil loaf is amazing. It’s got a great texture, loads of protein, fibre and keeps you full. But more importantly, it tastes incredible. It’s all American (Canadian?) comfort food at its finest.

Delicious. Comforting. Vegan.

Lentil Loaf

 

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Prep time

35 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

 

Delicious, hearty lentil loaf. Just like mom used to make (without the meat)

Author: Soy Division

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 375 ml water
• 1 cup (200g) green or brown lentils
• 1 medium onion, diced fine
• 1 cup (100g) porridge oats
• ¾ cup meltable non-dairy cheese (I used Vegusto No Moo melty)
• 1 TBSP ground flaxseed (linseed)
• 3 TBSP warm water
• ½ cup of pasta sauce of your choice
• 2 TBSP ketchup
• 1 TBSP vegan worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 TBSP Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 2 TBSP HP sauce
• 2 TBSP ketchup

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F)
2. Prepare a loaf pan with parchment paper… or if you really want to go old school… tin foil.
3. Bring water and a dash of salt to a boil in a saucepan.
4. Add lentils and simmer, covered, 25-30 minutes, until lentils are soft and water is evaporated.
5. Drain lentils if any water is remaining and lightly mash lentils with a fork.
6. Mix flax and 3 TBSP of water together in a bowl, let sit.
7. Stir in onions, oats and cheese.
8. Add flax mixture,spices, pasta sauce, worcestershire sauce and 2 TSBP of ketchup.
9. Spread mixture into prepared loaf pan. Smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Mix HP sauce and ketchup together and spread over the top of the loaf.
10. Bake for 40-50 minutes until edges look dry, firm and golden brown.
11. Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan.
12. Run a sharp knife around edges of the pan, slice and serve.
13. This is also amazing the next day!

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