Neatloaf

It’s not meatloaf. It’s “Neatloaf”!

Neatloaf and I first met at a restaurant called  Jyoti-Bihanga in San Diego back in 2011. It was love at first “bite”. It was so juicy, so tender, and it gave me a sense of hope that I will have no problem becoming fully vegetarian one day. It was one of those unforgettable moments where you know for sure that you will remember for the rest of your life. But just like any other love stories, there was a tragedy; I had to move out of San Diego!

Neatloaf and I had an 8362 miles long-distance relationship for a while. I thought about giving up the love I had for Neatloaf, but it was too hard. So I decided to recreate my own Neatloaf. It slightly differs from the original one, but one thing I learned from my ninja life is that nothing remains forever, including the memory of the original Nealtloaf. Now that I can’t even recall what it tasted like.

After many ups and downs, I think I did a pretty decent job on recreating my own Neatloaf, and giving myself an option to move on. If the original Neatloaf gave me hope, then my Neatloaf probably taught me tenacity. I hope you like the taste of my inner growth! *wink!*

Neatloaf

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

Serves: 10~12 slices

Ingredients

For the Neatloaf:

• ・4 eggs
• ・150g ricotta Cheese (pick low fat)
• ・2/3 cup Vegetable stock
• ・150g Tofu (harder the better!)
• ・1/3 cup onion
• ・2 garlic cloves
• ・1 cup brown rice
• ・1 tsp oregano
• ・1 tsp basil
• ・0.5 tsp rosemary
• ・4 cups brown rice flakes or corn flakes

For the sauce:

• ・1 cup tomato ketchup
• ・1/4 cup mustard
• ・1/4 cup molasses
• ・1/4 cup apple vinegar
• ・2 tsp cayenne pepper

3.5.3251

1: Cook Rice.
Pre-heat your oven to 150 C/300 F, then cook brown rice with a rice cooker.

2: Make vegetable soup.
Put 2/3 cup water and a cube of vegetable stock in a pot with a lower heat for 5~7 minutes.

3: Crush the brown rice flakes!
Try using thick and hard materials like a wine bottle. I used my mug and it was a quite good idea. Try not to use your own hands, because it’s really painful… (yes, I did it and almost cried)

4: Cut the veggies.
Chop the garlic and onion into small pieces.

5: Saute the veggies.
Saute the chopped garlic and onion in a pan, until the onion’s color turns brown.6: Beat the eggs and stir well.7: Mix everything.
Put the vegetable soup you made earlier, and all the ingredients (ricotta cheese, tofu, sauteed garlic/onion, cooked brown rice, oregano, basil, rosemary) into the bowl with crushed flakes.  Once everything is combined, add the egg and mix it again. This process really requires upper body strength, so get ready for it. *wink!*8: After all the mixing, it looks something like this.9: Pour the mixture into a baking pan.
I used my cake pan and it worked out great. Toss this into an oven for 1 hour.10:  Make the sauce.
While waiting for your Neatloaf to bake, time to make the sauce. Prepare all the ingredients (Tomato ketchup, mustard, molasses, apple vinegar, cayenne pepper) into a small bowl.11: Mix the sauce.
You now have the beautiful Neatloaf sauce.After an hour…

12: First baking done. 
The delicious neatloaf! The whole kitchen smells wonderful.
13: Take it out from an oven.
It looks so much like baking a cake. But it’s Neatloaf. It’s so hard to believe that there are cheese and rice inside of this glorious thing.14: Pour the sauce.
Put plenty of it on top of the Neatloaf . Then toss it back into the oven for 10 more minutes.After 10 minutes….

16: Second baking done.
Here you go, your beautiful neatloaf is finally ready to be served. With the sauce on top, it looks so much like a real meatloaf. 17: Cut it and eat.
Cut the Neatloaf with a sharp dry knife and it’s time to start the meal. Neatloaf is listed as one of “50 things to eat in San Diego before you die“, and I can easily understand why. Mine is not going to be as good as the original one, but I’m extremely happy with my creation. I hope you like it, too.

Thanks for reading.
-Yuki