A fresh take on a Vegan Lentil Loaf for you! It's made with a delicious blend of lentils, mushrooms and walnuts and has a beautifully festive cranberry topping. Those pops of juicy cranberry in every bite are so good, plus they make it look pretty impressive. It would make a great centrepiece on your holiday table!
PREP TIME: 25 minutesminutes
COOK TIME: 1 hourhour
TOTAL TIME: 1 hourhour25 minutesminutes
Servings: 8thick slices
Ingredients
1small onion, chopped finely
2clovesgarlic, minced
1 cup (198 grams)cooked red lentils , measured after cooking
1 cup (198grams)cooked green lentils , measured after cooking
3 cups (226grams)finely chopped mushrooms
½ cup (62grams)chopped walnuts
½ cup (8 tablespoons)ground flax seed, it must be ground not whole
½ cup (62grams)flour, all purpose (plain flour in the UK), oat, rice, spelt or wholewheat
1 very packed cup (75grams)breadcrumbs (gluten-free if necessary)
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and grease a 1lb or similar loaf pan (about 8.5 inch x 4.5 inch or 9inch x 5inch) and line it with a strip of baking parchment going along the middle.
Add all of the ingredients (except the fresh/frozen cranberries and sugar) to a very large bowl and mix until really well combined. I like to use clean hands to scrunch it all together and mix it. Set aside.
Put the cranberries and the sugar in a small pan over a medium heat and just cook until the sugar is mostly dissolved and some juice is appearing in the bottom of the pan. It only takes 5 - 6 minutes. Then remove from the heat.
Spoon the sugary cranberries into the loaf pan. You don't have to wait for them to cool down but be careful as the sugary liquid will be very hot. Even them out with a spoon.
Pack the lentil loaf mixture on the top of the cranberries. Really push it down all over and make sure it is even on the top. It will seem like lots of mixture but it will fit well once you compact it.
Place the loaf pan on a baking tray (just in case the cranberry liquid spills over) and bake for 1 hour to 1 hr 10 minutes. It should be golden and crusty looking on the top and coming away from the edges. There will probably be a little jammy red liquid oozing over the edge too.
Leave to rest in the pan for 15-30 minutes (it will stay warm for up to an hour if you wrap it in some foil) before turning out and slicing. To turn it out, put a plate or board on top of it then flip it over so the plate/board ends up on the bottom. It will slide out really easily but if you do have any trouble you can give a little tug on the parchment paper to ease it out. Once it's out, gently peel back the parchment paper to reveal the pretty cranberry top.