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Lebanese Stuffed Meatloaf

Along time ago before I even got on the internet I went to the library and came home with a bunch of cookbooks up to my chin. One of them was for this particular recipe and this book was Lebanese recipes. There is another one I want to do in the future inshallah.

For starters take 1/4 cup of bulgar wheat and soak it for 30 minutes. Hard boil 4 chicken eggs with enough water covering the eggs in a small pot on the stove or in an instant pot and the like either on saute or steam covered for 10 minutes, drain and set aside to cool. Take 1 lb or 1 kg of beef, chicken, turkey, veal, lamb or goat mince and rinse it to make sure that the excess blood is removed and the water is clear then drain it until there is no water left remaining. You may have to put this in the refrigerator to let the water finish dripping and this has to be done in a sieve with a cantainer under it to collect the liquid. This prevents your ground meat from being contaminated.

Also you would want to drain the bulgar too in a sieve to remove the water and there should not be any excess moisture remaining. Preheat regular oven for either 375F or 190C. Also this is very doable in the instant pot and the like multi functional cookers at the same temp.

In mortar and pestle grind 1 pinch each of seeds of cumin, coriander, black peppercorns, either pine nuts or pistacious in the same amount, 4 allspice berries, 1 broken piece of cinnamon stick, 3 cloves in to a powder. Chop 3 cloves of garlic and set it aside. Now take the mince, I used beef here and at times I want to use something else which is lower in fat like either chicken or turkey for an example and combine it with the bulgar and 3 tbs of either cornstarch or arrowroot powder for binding.

Add the contents of the mortar and pestle in to the ground meat and bulgar mixture along with the chopped garlic, and 1 pinch each of basil, oregano, sumac, marjoram, thyme, rosemary and mint. Add 3 dashes each of balsamic vinegar and either maggi or knorr aroma, either 1 pinch of vegtea seasoning or pink salt or 3 dashes of seasoned salt or 1 bullion cube crushed in mortar and pestle, either 2 tsps of oil of olive, almond, flaxseed, macadamia nut, sunflower, safflower, vegetable, corn, canola, grapeseed or avocado.

Take 1 piece of alminum foil and place it in a baking dish for either the oven or the instant pot. Spray this with cooking spray and add the ground meat and bulgar mixture and shape it in to a loaf and make it hollow. Crack and peel the 4 chicken eggs and line them up sideways so all of them can fit in the baking dish. For regular oven all you need is a cast iron skillet and the baking dish for instant pot and the like after the chicken eggs are placed inside the hollowed out meat mixture then you have to reshape it and place a piece of aluminum foil over it then place it in to either the oven or the instant pot and the like which is the only one that is placed in a water bath and place it on a trivet and insert the disk on top of it then the baking dish inside the instant pot and the like for a pot in pot meal for 30 minutes after you select bake and the time selected for the same amount of oven time. Then it is time to remove the foil on top and repeat for another 30 depending on which method you are using.

After this is done just go ahead and slice it up like a regular meatloaf and enjoy it with pita bread or chapati with some delicious plain yogurt. Enjoy! P. S. I finally tracked down the older photo I know I have it somewhere and I have paired it with a simple butternut squash dish. Recipe coming up so stay tuned.

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