I had a bunch of celery to use up tonight and was too lazy for anything extravagant. An attempt at vegan mock tuna salad it was! I had made two previous attempts at this dish, one leading to this recipe and the other resulting in a big fail. The latter I blame on my vegan mayo substitute. While there are many delicious vegan versions of various products in the UK (Cheezly, for example), vegan mayo is not one of them. I tried a couple brands and they were both kind of gross. Okay in small amounts, but would ruin a recipe if they are a featured ingredient. In any case, now that I’m back in the US that means Vegenaise and lots of it.

Anyway, on to the recipe! I decided on this one by perusing a bunch of different mock tuna salad recipes and combining them with some things I needed to use up. I added carrots, scallions and kelp granules for some extra flavor.

Mock Chickpea Tuna Salad

Super easy take at veganizing a tuna melt. Vegan chickpea tuna salad for a tasty sandwich filling, wrap, salad topping, etc.
Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed
  • 4-5 stalks of celery chopped (more if you really like celery like me)
  • 1 small carrot chopped (optional, I needed to use it up)
  • 1/2 medium or 1 small red onion chopped (optional, I ran out of onions)
  • 4 tablespoons vegan mayo
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 heaping teaspoon dijon mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon kelp granules optional, makes it taste more fishy
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish I just chopped up half a pickle really small
  • 2-3 scallions chopped (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Place all ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
  • Mash with a potato masher, your fists, a fork, whatever.
  • I let mine sit in the refrigerator for about an hour to let the flavors mesh, but you don't have to do this. Mostly I was just waiting for the rest of my dinner to be ready.
  • Eat on a bagel or piece of toasted bread, cover with a slice of vegan cheese (I recommend Tofutti American Cheese Slices) and you have a delicious tuna melt or just eat it plain! Yummm.
Ingredients in bowl, ready to be mashed.

Close-up.

Masher!


Voila!