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Turkish meatloaf with Halal lamb

Sara Buenfeld's healthy Turkish meatloaf: Halal lamb mince with aubergine, brown rice, dill, cinnamon and allspice baked on chopped tomatoes, served with roast peppers, courgettes and red onion.

Turkish · Main · Easy · 6 portions · 120 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The loaf is made with 250 g of lamb mince, which is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal; it also has vegetable bouillon powder, and the roast vegetables are dressed with cider vinegar, a scholarly difference.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Lamb mince: Lamb is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and mince without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. Buy the mince from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Lamb.
• Vegetable bouillon powder: Bouillon powder is a bought stock product like a stock cube, so its label decides. Use a Halal-certified or vegan vegetable bouillon powder. See Stock cubes.
• Cider vinegar: Deliberately made vinegar is a scholarly difference: the Hanafi school and Indonesia's MUI permit it; the Shafi'i rule does not. Use it if your school accepts it, or use lemon juice instead (our swap). See Apple cider vinegar.

Ingredients

Meatloaf

• a little rapeseed oil, for the tin
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• about 320 g large aubergine, finely diced
• 250 g pouch cooked brown rice
• 3 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp Halal-certified or vegan vegetable bouillon powder
• ½ pack dill, chopped, plus extra to serve
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground allspice
• 250 g Halal lamb mince (10% fat)
• 2 large eggs
• 227 g can chopped tomatoes

Roast vegetables

• pack of 3 peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 2 (about 500 g) large courgettes, halved and sliced
• 2 large red onions, sliced
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar (see the vinegar check below)
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• handful chopped mint

Method

1. Prepare the tin. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas 4). Line a 900 g loaf tin with baking parchment and lightly oil it.
2. Mix and bake the loaf. Put the onion and aubergine in a large bowl with the rice, tomato purée, bouillon powder, dill, spices and lamb. Mix and squash together with your hands, then add the eggs and mix again. Tip the chopped tomatoes into the base of the tin, pack the mince mixture on top and press down lightly. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour 40 minutes, taking the foil off for the last 15 minutes.
3. Roast the vegetables. When the meatloaf has had 1 hour, toss the peppers, courgettes and red onions with the oil in a roasting tin and roast alongside for 40 minutes, until tender and a little charred.
4. Serve. Take everything out of the oven and leave the loaf to settle for 5 minutes. Turn it out onto a board, peel off the parchment and scatter with dill if you like. Toss the roast vegetables with the vinegar, garlic and mint and serve with the meatloaf.

Allergens

eggs

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Healthy Turkish meatloaf' by Sara Buenfeld (serves 6: oven at 180°C (160°C fan, gas 4) and a 900 g loaf tin lined with parchment and lightly oiled; a finely chopped onion, a large aubergine finely diced (about 320 g), a 250 g pouch of cooked brown rice, 3 tbsp tomato purée, 1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder, half a pack of chopped dill, 2 tsp each ground cinnamon and allspice and 250 g lamb mince (10% fat) mixed by hand, then 2 large eggs; a 227 g can of chopped tomatoes in the base of the tin and the mixture pressed on top; covered with foil and baked 1 hour 40 minutes, uncovered for the last 15; after 1 hour, a pack of three peppers, 2 large courgettes (about 500 g) and 2 large red onions tossed in 1 tbsp rapeseed oil and roasted 40 minutes alongside; the loaf rested 5 minutes and turned out, scattered with dill; the vegetables tossed with 1 tbsp cider vinegar, a grated garlic clove and a handful of chopped mint). The recipe header gives 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking but the method bakes for 1 hour 40, so we use the method's time. We specified Halal lamb mince and a Halal-certified or vegan bouillon powder, and flagged the cider vinegar per school with lemon juice as our swap. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: a moussaka, not the finished dish from this recipe.