I don’t know about you, but even though the summer seasons come and go, I find myself craving what others would term as ‘Winter comfort food’ – it happens to me every summer. Anyhow, I always succumb to this craving, and off the back of it, I have created a wondrous loaf, that I served with a simple coleslaw – a green salad would have worked just as well. In the winter months you could serve it with a baked potato together with steamed veggies of your choice for a full meal – shredded cabbage with apple sauce would also be a perfect addition to this. Whichever and whenever, I can promise you that this loaf will live up to its name, and truly hit the spot.
INGREDIENTS FOR THE LOAF
olive oil
1 large white onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 sweet carrots, roughly chopped
1 cup of uncooked puy lentils, pre-boil and drain
2 to 3 Tbsp apple sauce
2 to 3 Tbsp flaxseeds
1 Tbsp peanut butter
½ tsp chia seeds
Himalayan salt to taste
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp chilli powder
1 cup string beans, chopped into ¼” lengths
¼ cup giant black raisins or sultanas
1 cup pecan nuts
¼ cup (60 ml) warm water
METHOD
Boil your puy lentils in more than sufficient water, and when soft, drain and set aside.
Whilst your lentils are cooking, process your pecan nuts for a few seconds in your food processor, then add your carrots, onion and garlic, and process for a few further seconds.
Prepare a wide low level saucepan with some olive oil on the heat, and spoon in the mixture from your food processor. Stir the mixture in, and cook until onions are transparent and soft (keep an eye not to burn anything). Add your raisins/sultanas, your spices and other ingredients one at a time, finishing off lastly with the precooked lentils. Cook and stir for around 10 minutes, or a little more.
In the meantime, preheat your oven to 360ºF (180ºC).
The mixture must be semi-mashed, so that it has texture but it’s a little on the mushy side too (by all means, once it has cooled down, process around a quarter of the cooked mixture in your food processor, then add it back to the remaining unprocessed mixture. I left mine unprocessed, but roughly mashed it.
Now spoon this mixture into a pre-greased loaf tin that has also been greased and lined with greaseproof paper – press down with a spatula, so that it is flat on the top, and make your glaze topping as per below.
INGREDIENTS AND METHOD FOR THE CHILLI TOMATO & GARLIC GLAZE
1 cup (250 ml) tomato ketchup
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp garlic powder or granules
a dash of olive oil
¼ cup (60 ml) warm water
2 Tbsp (30 ml) sweet chilli sauce
Place the above ingredients in a large mug, or glass bowl, then mix thoroughly and spread evenly over the top of the loaf. Bake the loaf in your preheated oven for around 45 minutes until the edges are golden.
Bon Appétit !
All recipes and content © Miriam Sorrell www.mouthwateringvegan.com 2010
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You’re recipes NEVER disappoint! Looks de-lish!!!
Great recipe. The only change I make is with the glaze. I saute crushed garlic in olive oil and then add the other ingredients. That’s because I prefer using unprocessed, natural ingredients so I use garlic rather than garlic powder or granules. Not sure what ‘ketchup’ means in the US: here it is highly-processed with additives so I use tomato sugo or tomato paste (both are pure tomato reduced).
I’m ashamed to say that I’ve actually never made a veggie loaf in about 45 years of being vegetarian
No need for shame dear Johanna, this is easy to make and delicious so get baking and get back to me with your feedback. 🙂
Hi there Fiona and thanks for dropping by here. Ketchup exists in the US – one can even purchase it from amazon usa http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ketchup there are several brands and usually eaten with fries and burgers. I am not saying there are healthier options, there is the option of homemade ketchup – here is an example recipe (substitute the honey with either stevia or maple syrup). Tomato paste on the other hand is usually used in sauces. Hope you enjoyed the recipe ! Check out my other loaf (it’s the festive one but can be made any time of the year). 🙂
How very kind of you to say so dear Jenni, thanks ! 🙂
Hello,
It’s in the oven and I am very curious. The mix tasted already good raw 🙂 More heavy recipes are welcome as my man is in sports and finds it difficult to stay on a vegan diet. As long as I bring on lots of nutritious heavy foods like this one he is ok. Keep up the good work!
PS My website is about animal welfare, ethology and cognition, and will be translated to english later 🙂
Hi Sarah, thanks for dropping by here. By all means send us a link to your website when it’s translated. Meantime, I assure you that you will find many recipes of this ilk with regards to ‘man-food’ – just go to the recipes on my blog and browse. Plenty of pasta dishes, bean dishes, rice dishes etc, all very flavoursome and filling, nutritious wherever possible too ! Enjoy ! 🙂
So this just popped on my FB this morning, so I decided to give it a shot.
Man, it’s delicious…
Had to use wallnuts/cashew mix instead of pecan nuts, and green lentils instead of puy. Also i altered the glaze, using ketchup doesn’t exactly sound right to me (Don’t get me wrong, I love ketchup, but I prefer not to overuse it)
Big thanks!
So glad you made and enjoyed it. Whilst the ketchup sounds like a lot to use, one has to bear in mind that one is only having one portion at a time which amounts to little ketchup. Hope you enjoy the other recipes from my blog – cheers !
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I have made many veggie chili recipes in the past and have been disappointed like your husband . I ve even made my own tried and true chili recipe with the veggie ground meat and it just didn t cut it. I must say, this IS absolutely the best vegetarian chili recipe ever!
Hi there Felix, I am delighted that you love mine and hope you try many of my other recipes from my blog ! Good on you for making it ! Cheers ! 🙂
Thank you Miriam. I’ve made this a few times – it’s absolutely delicious, and very substantial. I love all the healthy ingredients you’ve incorporated. It looks great too.
I double the recipe, and I’ve just prepared one of these for Friday.
But I haven’t applied the glaze, and I haven’t baked it yet.
Is it better to bake it now (Wednesday) as per your recipe, or should I rather refrigerate the loaf separate from the glaze, and glaze and bake it on Friday?
(I’m wondering if it would dry out if I don’t glaze it now)
Thank you so much ?
Hi Ilana, if you bake it today in readiness for Friday there is a bigger risk it would dry out, if you choose to do that, then you can always put a few small holes in it on the day and dampen it with a few drops of water or a drizzle of olive oil. If you bake it on the day, then be sure to cover it well so that it does not dry out. The glaze I strongly suggest to make it on the day itself and add it on then. Hope this helps, I usually make and bake it on the day, so this is a suggestion not based on personal experience, but rather what I would probably do given your scenario. Hope you enjoy it !
Thank you for your advice Miriam. I’ll bake it on the day as you suggest.
To clarify, do you suggest I discard the glaze (which I’ve kept separate from the loaf) which I made two days in advance?
Should I rather make a new glaze fresh on the day?
Thank you very much?