Chickpea Salad (aka faux tuna salad)

This picture looks dark, but it is actually one of the most authentic pictures in terms of representing the true colors of the food that I've ever taken. You may applaud my honesty.

I found this recipe on the Kitchn, and I must say that the part of this which is trying to ape a tuna salad (and calling it "Chickpea of the Sea") seemed a little silly to me. I guess vegetarians may want to emulate the flavor of tuna salad, but I'm content to just eat real tuna. That being said, I do love chickpeas and this presentation of them was intriguing. Also, the case of 24 cans of chickpeas that I bought a year or so ago is still lingering. I had two or three cans left and this seemed like a good way to work on them before they rusted into disuse.

Chickpea Salad (modified from the recipe linked above):

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp. plain (unsweetened) yogurt
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 1 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar (I used 1.5 as the original recipe said, but it was too much)
• 3-4 tablespoons chopped green onion
• black pepper, garlic powder, salt, and hot pepper flakes (to taste)

Pulse the chickpeas in your food processor until coarsely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until mixed. Spoon onto a layer of lettuce on your bread of choice. Top with thinly-sliced tomatoes. This made three servings for my appetite.

I liked this, but really wished I hadn't followed the original recipe's vinegar recommendations. The vinegar was so strong that it overpowered many of the other flavors. The original used umeboshi vinegar, but I can't be bothered to track down and buy a bottle of special vinegar just for a sandwich recipe. The umeboshi vinegar is supposed to add the saltiness of tuna to this, but I just added, well, salt. I also put quite a lot of pepper and hot pepper in mine, but felt more would have been better.

Next time (and there will be a next time), I'll go with 1 tbsp. of vinegar. I also may reduce the mayonnaise to 1 tbsp. and use 3 tbsp. yogurt because even diluted 50%, I thought the mayonnaise flavor was quite present.


by Shari (Orchid64)