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Ketchup isn't necessary. You can use a fresh tomato, canned tomato, tomato paste, or tomato sauce. Of course, you could leave all of those things out but I like a little tomato in there.

It is pretty high in fiber. I can't eat a ton of it or I will end up bloated but the combo of oatmeal and flax always does that to me.

I may use fresh tomato and tomato sauce next time. Ketchup and tomato paste seem to really both me.

Ruupyet, when you use the pressure cooker....and cover the lentils etc with water...do you mean you add water just to cover the lentils or do you add the 1 cup veg stock plu 1/2 c water per the recipe?

Riva

Riva,
I put the lentils, rice, and steel cut oats in the pressure cooker and cover with water plus a little bit more. I think the pressure cooker requires more water than the recipe calls for but since I don't actually measure, I can't say for sure.

Thanks Ruu- I will try it that way next. Today I made it kind of per the recipe...except that I through the bulgur in with the lentils and all the water called for. Worked out great. It was SO good.
Riva

All the discussion here about this recipe inspired me to try it last night. It's really good! I left out the tahini, optional fennel and blackstrap (which I thought I had in the cupboard, but couldn't find). The only problem I had is that after cooking the lentils and bulgur (using the exact liquid measurements and timing in the recipe) the mixture was really dry and I had to add more water before baking. I think I'll use a bit more liquid to begin with and a smaller burner on the stove next time.

Thanks for the Magic Meatloaf web site, Gramma Jackie. It's terrific ! I am going to let others know about it, too.

I'm excited to try this! This will be my first venture into "meatloaf."

In preparation for making it tomorrow night, today I cooked a double portion of the lentil & bulgur. Questions-there's still quite a bit of liquid in the pot, should I drain before putting the loaf together? Also, do lentils freeze well, and if so, do they freeze better with more liquid or less?
Thx!

I drain the liquid and yes freezes well. I make a big batch freeze some and rest in fridge to use throughout the week. The best news is hubby uses lentils for his tacos!

Cheers

I cook the lentil/bulgur until the water is absorbed fully.
Riva

Thanks! I made it this evening following the recipe closely but added a few shredded carrots and half an onion and subbing A1 for the worcestershire. Overall I thought it turned out pretty good given that I don't even like lentils! For more texture next time I will probably use less rolled oats and more bulgur or steel cut. My only complaint is that it was kinda mushy, but other than that I found it easy enough to make it worth experimenting with in the future.

it might still have had too much liquid in the lentil/bulgur.
Also, if you fridge it overnight it firms up.
Riva

I experienced the same thing but also added a bit more water to my lentil mixture and it worked out fantastic!

I have had limited success with finding a lentil loaf recipe that I liked both in terms of flavour and texture. Thankfully I have never been looking to simulate a meat texture which has allowed for a great deal of leeway. This one is the best one so far and it just has to pass one more test (sitting in the fridge overnight) to be the recipe that makes it into my book!

Whee! So excited.

I've made this several times now. Most recently I used it to fill bell peppers. I cut the tops off and removed the seeds from red and green bell peppers and filled them with the lentil mix. I added a container of Pomi tomatoes around and over the top of the peppers and baked for about 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees F.

BTW, whenever there is an ingredient like ketchup that I prefer to avoid, I think about the flavors and textures that it adds and use whole foods and spices to mimic them. Ketchup = tomato paste with some apple cider vinegar, dried garlic and onion spices with a little sweetener if necessary.

Good tip!