Soy Ginger Meatloaf Muffins

In part one of my mix and match meatloaf madness, I went with some Asian flavors, spicy and sweet with all the flavors of a good stir fry in one little meat and veggie muffin.

Ingredients:

8 oz mix of ground turkey and ground beef
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
2/3 cup chopped broccoli slaw
1/2 cup mushrooms and onions sauteed
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 tbs chopped roasted red pepper
1 tbs roasted garlic
ground black pepper

Soy Ginger Sauce:

1 tbs soy sauce (plus more to thin)
2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp oyster sauce
orange zest
1 roasted thai chili crumbled
1/2 tsp honey

This would go together quicker if you used a prepared sauce--because everything else is pretty much prepared in advance. But this sauce is easy to throw together, and is similar to ones I've used in stir frys before. I whisked together the fresh chopped pealed ginger, soy, oyster sauce, orange zest, and the crumbled pepper. I did taste it and found it pretty spicy--but not too much is going in, so it shouldn't overwhelm the dish.

I did chop down the slaw, so the pieces were shorter--no long thin strands poking up everywhere. It folds in much better if it is smaller.

So I selected the panko crumbs for this--seemed appropriately Asian inspired. I used beef and turkey, though one or the other could also be used. I just thought the sausage might be too overpowering with the other flavors.

So I weighed out the meat, and then dumped all of the other ingredients on top. I didn't add any salt to this, since the soy has so much salt--even the reduced sodium kind I used, but I did add a generous amount of cracked pepper. Once it was all in the bowl, I got my hands dirty and squoushed it all together. This is one of my biggest visceral memories of making meatloaf as a child--the oozy goozy meat through my fingers. This is a pretty tight mixture, not too dry or too wet.

This along with the three other flavors went into a muffin tin--about 1/3 of a cup per muffin, packed not too tight. It cooks for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. I thought about adding some more soy as a glaze, but it is pretty moist and flavorful. If you made one large loaf you could use the sauce as a glaze.

My sister had asked me to come babysit when I'd gotten about half way into the epic prep for these 4 meatloaf muffins, so I packed one pan with the four flavors and schleped it over to her house for cooking and tasting. After I took these out of the oven I took them out of the pan to cool, and one of the household residents couldn't wait for a taste. Mr Huck grabbed one of these before I could stop him and gulped it down in one bite. He definitely approves!

The verdict: This was very successful both texturally and flavor wise. The panko did a nice job holding it together, and the ginger soy sauce really came through. I added some extra slaw before cooking the second half, and that was nice. I served this with stir fried mushrooms, onions, the rest of the broccoli slaw, and some broccoli, with a similar sauce of ginger, soy and oyster sauce. It made a very nice and healthy dish. Plus the slaw was pretty easy to prepare both for the meatloaf and for the side dish!