One of my favorite places to eat in town is Jyoti-Bihanga, a tasty vegetarian/vegan restaurant run by the Sri Chinmoy folks. If you aren’t familiar with them, I’ll tell you this – they make a fantastic fake meatloaf, they call it Neatloaf.
You can imagine how excited I was when a friend of mine e-mailed me the recipe, so now I can have delicious Neatloaf in the comfort of my own home. The recipe as it stands is vegetarian, you’ll need to replace the eggs with an equivalent amount of egg substitute to make it vegan, switch the ricotta cheese with soy cheese or silken tofu, and double check the Lipton Onion Soup Mix as well.
Also, since I cook for a Celiac sufferer, I make it gluten free by simply replacing the Special K with gluten free corn flakes, which changes the consistency a little bit, but keeps the recipe well within the realm of “delicious”.
Neatloaf
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs (use egg substitute if vegan)
- 1/4 cup Lipton Onion Soup Mix (I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that this is vegan)
- 1/3 lb low-fat ricotta cheese or crumbled tofu
- 1/3 lb firm tofu (squished up into small pieces)
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil, of choice
- 1/3 cup onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon basil
- 1/4 teaspoon rosemary
- 4 cups Special K cereal or gluten free corn flakes to make this gluten free
- 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic
Cooking Directions
- Heat oven to 300°F.
- Saute the onions and garlic (in just a little bit of oil).
- Beat eggs or egg replacer in a bowl, the mix together all ingredients except Special K.
- Mix well, and add Special K last.
- Turn into a pan sprayed with cooking oil. You can use either a 7×9 or 8×8 pan.
Neatloaf Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup ketchup (you can also substitute catsup)
- 1/8 cup Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
- to taste Cayenne pepper (a pinch is plenty for me)
Cooking Directions
- While Neatloaf cooks prepare sauce, whisking together all sauce ingredients in a bowl. I typically like a lot of sauce so I double the sauce part.
- Remove loaf from oven, pour sauce over the loaf and cook an additional 10 minutes.
- When loaf is done, if you can avoid the temptation, it’s best to let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
The Sri Chinmoy folks have restaurants all over the US (each restaurant is named differently but all are affiliated/inspired by him), and I’d highly recommend visiting, the Neatloaf always seems better at the restaurant no matter how well I make it home. And in the interest of full disclosure, they are some kind of religious movement/cult, so if you’re wary of that sort of thing, take heed. Suffice to say though that I’ve been there dozens of times and have yet to be recruited….maybe I should take it personally.
Need another gluten free meal idea? Check out the recipe for Gluten Free Pizza. Need a side dish with your Neatloaf? Check out the recipe for Cool Cucumber and Strawberry Salad. Both are recipes from fantastic Eat Drink Better contributors.
Image credit: ewige at flickr under a GNU Free Documentation License.
More Vegetarian Recipes:
Best Ever Dip Recipe: Pumpkin Walnut Pate
Hungarian Veggie Paprikash
Soba Noodles with Chard and Oranges
John Chappell
I'm 33, and a Southern Californian by birth and outlook, but recently relocated to the upper Midwest. You can label me an organic farmer trapped in an accountants brain and body, an enthusiastic yet novice urban homesteader, and a vocal supporter of all things organic, local, wholesome, and old-school.
18 Responses to Neatloaf: A Tasty Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-Free Fake Meatloaf
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Thank you! I was just looking at the menu at Silence Heart Nest and feeling sorry that I couldn’t eat their neatloaf any more because of the gluten, but now I see that it is easy to make it gluten free. Plus, I have been searching for this recipe for years! Thanks again for posting it.
thanks for putting this recipe up. there are other sites with this recipe, but none that are as thorough.
i’ve been dying to have neatloaf since i moved far away from jyoti bihanga. i’m making this recipe tonight and i can’t wait!
This looks delicious! I’m a slacker vegetarian living in fear of the many recipes I’ve seen for lentil loaf. I see orange bits in the picture, though, and nothing in the recipe to explain them. Carrots? Peppers? Rogue flavors from the onion soup mix?
Lipton’s soup mix is not vegetarian, has meat broth in it. For a vegan version I use 1/4 cup water for each egg, heat the water and dissolve vegetable broth cubes (2) in the water to replace the seasoning from the soup mix, replace the cheese with tofu.
Special K is not vegan, has whey in it, so I use Wheaties for the dry cereal. I think you could also use crushed bread crumbs, but the texture might different. Even non-vegetarians like this version, it is always eaten up at potlucks.
Thanks for the subsitution, Julie! I looked up the ingredients in Lipton Onion Soup Mix. While it doesn’t look too healthy, I’m not seeing meat ingredients:
http://www.spiceplace.com/lipton_onion_soup_mix.php
I wonder if there are different sorts, and some do have beef in them? Or maybe the “natural flavors” are animal-derived?
Wheaties are a great idea for subbing out the Special K. Way to sneak in some whole grains!
Are you kidding – is this the REAL recipe??? Do they really use Special K in their Neatloaf? I love JB and the Neatloaf…. I was hoping to make it (planning to make something “like” it) for Thanksgiving. If this is the real deal, I’m going to be so happy – and my husband will be even happier! Please let me know if this is the actual recipe or just one that someone made up to taste like it…