Sunday, June 29, 2008

Vegan Mock Tuna Salad

Chickpeas taste like tuna fish? Really?

My friend Sarah told me how to make a mock tuna salad, using coarsely mashed garbanzo beans instead of tuna fish. I'll admit, I was skeptical. Even though Sarah is my vegan mentor of sorts, I just didn't see how garbanzo beans could taste like tuna fish.

Brad and I had an overnight getaway to New Orleans this weekend, while the kids stayed at his dad's, and the dogs were boarded at their animal hospital. We got back around noon, and Brad's dad and stepmom took us out to lunch at Brad's favorite Chinese place, so we're understandably not super motivated to cook this evening. I got to thinking about the mock tuna salad, and since I had a spare can of garbanzo beans in the pantry, I decided to give it a shot.

And holy shit! It does taste like tuna salad! Amazing! I don't know how or why, but it honestly does! I think this may become a lunchtime staple in our home. Woohoo!

You can make this any way you want, just follow your usual tuna salad proportions, but use a can of drained, mashed garbanzo beans in place of the tuna. Tonight I made a really simple batch, with just vegan mayonnaise and dill pickle relish, but if I'd had some onions of any kind (red or green are my favorites, but yellow or white would also have been nice), I would have thrown them in, too.

5 comments:

Cynthia A. said...

This sounds like a great sandwich, I love garbanzos. I'll give it a try soon :)

Unknown said...

I was totally skeptical too. Especially since I don't totally love chickpeas. Glad you tried it and liked it! We have it at least once/week for lunch:)

sara said...

Hey, whats the best vegan mayo you've found?

I also think you should consider changing your blog name to "holy shit! It does taste like..." you know, for whatever new replacements you find

:)

Cheryl said...

Sara! You made me laugh out loud! If I didn't love my blog name so much, I might consider that. LOL

As for the mayo, Vegenaise ROCKS. I mean, it seriously kicks ass. In fact, I think it tastes better than Kraft mayo (I'm a Best Foods/Hellman's girl). It's not as good as Hellman's, but it comes in at a close second. You have no idea how excited I was when I tasted it the first time. Only bummer is that it's still very high in fat and calories, but at least it's vegan.

~The Bargain Babe from *Zucchini Summer Blog* said...

Hey I made this tonight and it was good! We're having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow! :)