Sunday, September 23, 2012

Vegetarian Tuna Salad

This is one of those ubiquitous veggie recipes like mock chicken salad or tofu egg salad. Everyone seems to have a recipe for the most perfect version of it. Well, it's time to throw our hat into the ring. We were particularly inspired by the The Kitchn's Chickpea of the Sea recipe that was adapted from a book called The Kripalu Cookbook, which was originally published in 1995.

We changed it up by switching their ingredient list for some of our favorite ingredients like olive oil mayo and Creole mustard. We also added a chopped sheet of nori, the dried seaweed usually used to make sushi rolls, which totally, totally makes the dish. We have to give credit for that idea to some smart commenter on The Kitchn site.


Supposedly, this tastes just like tuna fish. So make up a batch and have it on some crusty bread with lettuce and avocado or over a bed of lightly dressed arugula with some grape tomatoes.


Vegetarian Tuna Salad


1 15-ounce box chickpeas, drained and rinsed (like Whole Foods 365 brand)

1/4 cup olive oil mayonnaise
1 tablespoon creole mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 cup chopped celery, from about one rib
1 sheet toasted nori (torn)
1 tablespoon chopped chives
Pinch cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper

Into a medium bowl, add the chickpeas, mayo, mustard, vinegar, and celery salt. Mash mixture with the back of a large fork until the chickpeas are broken up but not smooth. Into the work bowl of your food processor, add the celery and nori. Pulse until finely chopped. Add the celery mixture to the chickpea mixture along with the chives, cayenne, and black pepper. It's best to allow it to sit in the fridge for 20 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Keeps for 3 days in the fridge. (
Makes 4 servings.)


4 comments:

Jesse @ Happy Go Lucky Vegan said...

I've always wanted to make "tuna" with real ingredients - this recipe looks great!

Unknown said...

This looks lovely. I convinced my meat-obsessed boyfriend to try a chickpea salad at the Wild Cow veg restaurant in Nashville, and he adored it. Until now, I've been making my own as variations on smashed chickpeas, chopped parsley, finely chopped green onions, and lemon juice (surely I'm forgetting something, though)--sort of based off of Smitten Kitchen recipe.

I'm going to have to try this! We love creole mustard; it looks like a serious winner.

Great-looking food, as always!

Cheryl
The Stylist Quo

Anonymous said...

Made a variation of this with ingredients I had on hand...
Chick peas, grapeseed oil mayo, nori, celery, celery seed, scallions, fresh dill, Dijon, horseradish, ground pepper and cayenne, and the results were phenomenal, even before the chill/mingle time in the fridge. Served it with romaine leaves for a sort of make-it-yourself lettuce wrap at my vegan lunch soirée with omnivores. Had to make a second batch. It was the hands-down hit.



Unknown said...

I just made this. Love the recipe in that it's composed of items most pantries should stock. It tastes wonderful before resting. We will see if it's a hit in lettuce cups for company later. TY