At this time of year, it helps to balance all of the holiday indulgences with nutritious comfort foods. This Vegan Lentil Loaf, shared with us by Nele Liivlaid of Nutriplanet, is full of fiber and protein, and will stick to your ribs without feeling heavy. She suggests serving this hearty loaf with Vegan Cheese Sauce; find the original post and recipe here. Check out our Vegetarian Holiday Guide for quick veggie options, as well as Nele’s blog for more stunning plant-based recipes.
Photo courtesy of Nutriplanet
Recipe yields 2-3 servings.
What you’ll need
- 100g (3.5oz) dry red lentils, (240g, 8.5oz cooked)
- 85g (3oz) boiled chickpeas
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 12 leek slices, about 1 cm thick
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- ½ sweet potato (about 160g, 5.6oz)
- 1 karge potato (about 160g, 5.6oz)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 pinches of chilli flakes
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika powder
- 15g (0.5oz) miso paste
- Leaves from 3 fresh rosemary stalks, chopped
- Leaves from 5 fresh sage stalks, chopped
- 25g (0.9oz) hazelnuts
- 25g (0.9oz) almonds
- 2 tbsps. ground flax seeds + 4 tbsps. water
- 3 tsps. dried tomato granules
- ½ tbsp. raw buckwheat flour
- Black pepper and Himalayan salt to taste
Preparation
- Wash the lentils well and boil. Set aside.
- Process the nuts in food processor into coarse crumbs or chop them with knife. Process the chickpeas in food processor or mash with fork.
- Mix ground flax seeds with water and set aside.
- Chop onion, leek, carrot, sweet potato and potato into smaller cubes and throw them into a bowl.
- Take a big pot, add 2 tbsps. of water (you shouldn’t need more) and heat it up. Once the water starts to sizzle, bring down the heat, add chopped veggies and mix for a while. Cover with lid and mix every now and then. Sautee the veggies for a total of 8-10 minutes.
- Peel garlic cloves and crush them through garlic press. Add to pot of veggies and mix well. Also add chilli flakes, paprika powder, miso paste and chopped sage and rosemary into the pot. Mix well. All this in the range of 8-10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and cool the veggies a bit by mixing it with spoon and let the excess water to vaporize.
- Add into pot: boiled lentils, processed nuts and chickpeas, tomato granules and flax eggs. Mix really well. Taste and season with Himalayan salt and black pepper.
- Finally mix in ½ tbsp. of buckwheat flour. The mixture has to be quite dry – it’s still moist, but not liquid.
- Heat oven to 190°C (375°F). Take loaf tin (roughly 23cm x 8cm x 7cm) and line it with parchment paper.
- Transfer the loaf mixture into tin and press it down really well using spatula to make sure there are no air bubbles.
- Bake for 50 minutes until it’s golden. Remove from oven and let sit for a couple of minutes. Then, place chopping board over the tin and flip it over. Remove the tin, letting the loaf rest for another couple of minutes before taking off the parchment paper. Let cool before slicing.
Tips
- If you don’t have miso paste, sub it with soy sauce or just with Himalayan salt.
- You can use any nuts – just fill ⅓ cup with them, which is about 50 grams. Measure whole nuts.
- You can sub dried tomato granules with drained and chopped sundried tomatoes – about four halves should be enough.