I had a bunch of chopped onion and chopped cilantro left over from Saturday. I also have a lot of ground beef. So I mexed the onion and cilantro, plus a bunch of crushed garlic and a goodly helping of salt and pepper, and an egg into some of the ground beef. I shaped it into ‘logs’ and cooked them slowly in an oven, elevated on a rack in the pan. They’re not quite meat loaf, but something else.
Is there a dish that’s similar to what I made?
Soundsl ike cevapcici to me, just add a bit of paprika and you are just about there. Try this with them:
Yoghurt Sauce
1 pint yoghurt (get the full fat version)
1/2 cucumber, peeled, grated and drained 1 hour
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and ground white pepper to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper
MikeG is right. They’re not unlike cevapcici. Except cevapcici don’t have cilantro in them. They’re almost like kofte kebabs, except those are usually made with lamb, parsley, and mint.
The cevapcici I’ve had are almost never just plain beef–at the very least they’re a combo of 1/2 beef 1/2 pork or 1/2 veal 1/2 pork. Bosnian varieties will have a bunch of lamb thrown into the equations as well (and quite rightly. The Bosnians have the best cevapcici in the former Yugoslavia). As I’ve mentioned in a thread before 1/3 beef/veal 1/3 pork 1/3 lamb, or 1/2 lamb 1/2 pork/beef. These are the best. Add onions, hot paprika, salt and pepper to the mix.
The yogurt sauce is good with them, but I prefer ajvar, a Yugoslav relish made of roast red peppers and eggplant. You can find them in Eastern European grocery stores.
I don’t have any mint, but I do have some Sather’s Naturally Flavoured Spearmint Leaves Candy. Would that work? 
I’ve never heard of cevapcici. How is it served, and with what sides? (e.g., would I put them in a pita like khefta, with the yoghurt sauce MikeG mentions? And what would go with it? Rice?)
Sounds like bachelor kibble to me, Johnny.
Johnny’s New and Improved Meat Logs! Now with more taste!
Yeah, in a pita is fine. I always have mine with ajvar (“EYE-vahr”) and raw onions. You can use the yogurt sauce instead, if you wish. You don’t have to serve it on a pita. You can also present them on a plate with the aforementioned raw onions and ajvar as accompaniments.
Cevapcici are also known as cevapi. The words are pronounced “che-VAHP-chee-chee” and “cheh-VAHP-ee” respectively. The ultimate source of the word is kebap. “K”-> “ch” and “b” -> “v” = “Chevap.”
Sounds quite close to the innards of a potsticker.
Mexican meat loaf? Put some taco sauce on it and there ya go.
Heh. That’s where it all came from! Saturday we used Tapatio and lemon juice as well.