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Christmas is coming early for you today because I am going to show you how to make one of my most popular
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holiday recipes, which is vegan lentil loaf. Now I know there are a lot of lentil loaf recipes out there
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but this one is extra tender and it's full of flavor. If you want to follow along with the recipe
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it is linked in the description below. Now let's get started. We're going to start by preparing the lentils. I'm using one cup of dry green
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lentils. So I'm going to rinse them off and then cook them for five minutes longer than the package recommends
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We want the lentils to be really tender for this recipe. While that's cooking, I'm going to preheat my oven to 350 degrees and I'm also going to line my loaf pan with parchment paper
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I'm using a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan and this recipe will fill the whole pan. So if you're using a smaller pan, check the notes at the bottom of the recipe
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I do have some conversions there. So I'm going to put one piece of parchment paper going
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each direction in the pan and I'm going to leave some hanging over the edges so that way I'll have some handles to remove the loaf when it's finished
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I'm also going to make a flax egg which is going to help bind the loaf together so it doesn't fall apart
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So I'm just going to mix a quarter cup of ground flax seed with half a cup of water and then I will set it aside to thicken
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Now over the stove I'm going to cook some vegetables. I'm heating my pan over medium heat with some olive oil and I'm going to add a finely chopped medium onion and three cloves of
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minced garlic When you chopping all your vegetables make sure they finely chopped Otherwise if the pieces are too big it going to be harder for the loaf to hold together Cook the onion and the garlic for about five to seven minutes you know less or more
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depending on whether you'd like the onion to be soft or a little bit crunchier. Now I'm going to add one cup of chopped celery, one cup of peeled and grated carrots
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and a quarter cup of raisins. If you're not a big fan of raisins, feel free to leave them out
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It's not a big deal. So this is just going to cook for another three minutes and then I'll remove it from the heat
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My lentils are cooked so I'm going to drain them and I'll put them in a large bowl to mash them
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I'm not going to mash them fully entirely into a paste. I do want to keep some of the whole lentils intact
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So mash them sort of halfway. I have some finely chopped pineapple here and I'm just going to use my fingers to really mash it up
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A lot of people have questioned my sanity for putting pineapple in a lens
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loaf, but it does add a really nice but subtle flavor to the loaf and most importantly
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it helps with the tender texture. It's really my secret ingredient in this loaf. Anyway, I'm
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going to set aside half a cup of the mashed pineapple and I'm also going to reserve the leftover
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juice for the glaze later on. All right, now I'm going to make my seasoning paste, which is going
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to give the loaf a lot of flavor. So in my bowl, I'm going to add one and a half tablespoons
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of ketchup, half a tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce, half a tablespoon. Half a tablespoon
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of vegan Worcestershire sauce, which I can never stay properly. One teaspoon each of dried thyme and dried oregano Two tablespoons of nutritional yeast one and a quarter teaspoons of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper And I just mix that up into a nice paste
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and then I'll take my flax egg and mix that into the paste
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All right, now we can mix up everything for the loaf batter
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So in my bowl with the lentils, I'm gonna add my cooked veggies, my pineapple pieces
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half a cup of rolled oats, half a cup of oat flour
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and my seasoning paste with the flaxic. So I'm going to mix that well so that everything is evenly distributed
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If you want, you can taste the mix here to see if it needs any additional seasonings
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Just try to stick to dry seasonings because if you add too much liquid
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it could prevent the loaf from holding together. And all of this is going to go into my loaf pan
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and I'm going to press it in so it's nice and flat on top. The only thing left to do now is make the glaze
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and fortunately, that is super easy. So I have my bowl here and I'm going to add three tablespoons of ketchup, a tablespoon of maple syrup
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half a tablespoon of my pineapple juice left over from the pineapple, one teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
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and one teaspoon of low sodium soy sauce. And I'll just mix that up until it's nice and even
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If you want to make this a day in advance, you can stop here and refrigerate the loaf and the glaze separately
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And then take it out an hour before you're ready. to bake it. But since I am obviously going to make this now, I am going to glaze the loaf
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Now you could use a spoon or a basting brush to spread the glaze over the top of the loaf and then just bake it for 50 to 55 minutes if you use the make option you might need to add five or 10 minutes to your baking time if your loaf was still cool when you put it in the oven
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once it's baked you really have to let this one cool properly to make sure it holds together so let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes then use your handles to transfer it to a wire rack and let it cool for another 30 minutes
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And we're done. This loaf is just the perfect centerpiece for your holiday dinners
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It goes well with just so many other holiday sides like your mashed potatoes, your green bean casserole
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whatever else you're having for the holidays. It just works. Thank you so much for joining me for this one
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I do have one more video that I'm hoping to get out before Christmas because it is the most Christmassy one of all
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I know the suspense is killing you, so I'm sure. that I'll see you in the next one
