Chinese-style Meatloaf

[tuftears]

I got a yen to make some meatloaf Saturday, so I went and dug up some recipes around the net. Then I saw some mentions that mixing cabbage into meatloaf makes it more moist and tender. Curious, I looked into this and found this is often paired with Chinese-style meat fillings; essentially it's like the filling you use in potstickers, but in meatloaf form.

Once I had done sufficient browsing, I decided to throw together my own variation on the theme. It took longer to cook than I thought it would, but the result came out pretty light and tasty, in my opinion - and as a bonus, it both makes a lot of food, and doesn't involve frying in oil, which is good because I need to eat more healthily.

Serve with steamed brown rice and some veggies of your choice - I used mixed veggies, but had I had more time and effort to spare, I would have baked carrots in a glaze of some kind to go with the meatloaf.


1 lb ground beef
2 slices of whole wheat bread - break it up into crumbs
4 cups of finely chopped Napa cabbage - about same volume as the beef
1 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp ground ginger
1 egg
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce as a topping

Mix ingredients up well
Spray a bread pan, then pack ingredients firmly into it
Bake at 375 degrees for about 1.25 hours
In the last 0.25 hours, add some hoisin sauce on top as a glaze

Serves about 4-6 depending on how hungry everyone is.

Comments

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Aiee, my meatloaf!

The juices from the onions are supposed to tenderize and break down the meat. If you want it to be spicier, maybe you could play with making a Mexican version (Olé!), or sprinkling in some crushed red peppers and maybe a sauce on top made from peppers for a Szechuan flair.