Meat Loaves Two Way – Bobotie ( South African Curry Meat loaf) and Simple Meat Loaf
Let’s talk about my first meat loaf. Take a look…
1 cup strongly brewed hot black tea ( keep it piping hot!)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 chopped dried apricots
2 tbsp canola oil –> olive oil
2 cloves of garlic –> Put 4
1 large yellow onion –> used 2!
2 tsp ground tumeric
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cayene pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
1/2 tsp funnel seeds
Kosher salt to taste
2 tbsp malt or apple cider vinegar
8 oz ground beef and 8 oz ground lamb –> had used just ground beef
How exciting is this!? And how would you pass on the meat loaf recipe that includes all these ingredients?! I found this recipe for Bobotie, South African Curry Meat loaf, in SAVEUR. Once again, I found another whole30 friendly and DELICIOUS and flavorful recipe. Methods is pretty interesting. You prepare a raisin and apricot infused black tea as part of ingredients. When I saw this recipe, I just had to try it. Plus, I love any recipes that involves tumeric, cumin and coriander! And cooking this meat loaf made our kitchen smell so wonderful. It was so fun and exciting to cook this meat loaf. And the best part was that it was so delicious. Flavor of curry came through and sweetness from raisin and apricots were so well matched with spices. And crunch from the sliced almonds were so perfect, and it makes some crunch noise when you try to cut through the crust of almond on the surface. It was SO good. And here is how to make it…..
Bobotie
( straight from SAVEUR)
Ingredients –> See above 
Methods
Heat oven to 350°. Combine tea, raisins, and apricots in a bowl; let sit for 30 minutes. Drain, and reserve ⅓ cup soaking liquid; set both aside. Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion; cook until lightly caramelized, about 8 minutes. Add turmeric, coriander, cayenne, cumin, fenugreek, pepper, fennel, and salt; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add reserved soaked fruit and soaking liquid and vinegar; cook until almost all liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl; add beef and lamb, and mix until evenly combined. Transfer meat mixture to a foil-lined baking sheet, and shape into an 8″ × 4″ loaf; press almonds over top of meat loaf, and bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the meat loaf reads 160°, about 40 minutes.
And the second meat loaf.
This recipe was adapted from my good friend’s ( yes, Jacque… you probably know by now!) blog, Whole Family. One night I made a spontaneous visit to her home. I just showed up without much warming and she welcomed me. And great friend that she is, she served me a slice of her wonderful and comforting meat loaf. In the middle of the night, we were chatting, talking about our lives, cracking silly jokes and had this wonderful meat loaf. I could just sit there and eat this all night! Great friend, fun chat and wonderful food. What can we ask for more?
Her recipe has this simple but yummy “frosting” on the meat loaf. She spreads tomato paste on top and bakes her meat loaf. And it is so sweet and so tasty. Well, when I made meat loaf, I tweaked some. First, I added some sweet flavor to tomato paste to make it more friendly for my husband who really does not like tomato at all. And second, I added some parsley, italian seasoning, sauteed onion ( this, she was actually going to add it, but she was out of onion!), some dash of cumin, and nutmeg.
Simple Meat Loaf – Adapted from Whole Family
( I am copying ingredients and steps word to word from her site, and added what and how I tweaked)
Ingredients
1 pound of grass-fed ground beef
1/4 cup almond flour
1 egg
1/2 tbsp marjoram
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp minced garlic (can you tell I like garlic?) –> omitted and added extra 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 stem’s worth of fresh rosemary, diced up
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper
1 12 oz can of tomato paste
MY ADDITION
2 tsp italian seasoning
dash dash of cumin
dash of nutmeg
handfull of parsley chopped
1 onion chopped and sauteed with ghee
6 oz canned tomato sauce
1/8 cup raisins
dash of cinnamon
Methods
- Preheat oven at 375 degrees
- In a sauce pan, pour tomato paste, tomato sauce, raisins and dash of cinnamon. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 15 min or until the volume reduce to half. Set aside.
- In a bowl, combine ground beef, eggs, almond flour, parsley, sauteed onion, and spices. Mix with your hand.
- On a baking sheet, place parchment paper or aluminum foil. On a sheet, make the meat loaf mixture into a shape of your choice. About an inch thick.
- Coat the meat loaf with the tomato sauce.
- Pop it in the oven and let it cook for about 40 min or until its cooked through.
- Serve….
And the flavor? It was SO delicious. It was warm, very well seasoned, and the tomato paste was sweet and slightly spicy. It was so perfect. And to top it off, it was juicy…. just to think about this meat loaf makes me hungry and water my mouth! Thank you, Jacque, for an awesome recipe!
So here are my meat loaves two ways! They were both perfect for packing up for lunch!
