November 18, 2008

Garbanzofish Sandwich


I've seen a lot of recipes like this but never gave it a shot until I saw Happy Herbivore's version. Man, that girl has a lot of good recipes. Chickpeas make a perfect substitution for tuna! A spin through the food processor and your eye just cannot tell the difference.

Anyway, the reason I love this is because it looks and tastes pretty much like normal, everyday tuna. And you can make a normal, everyday sandwich and no one thinks you're absurd health girl. But it's still a totally healthy vegan dish and very versatile. I'd like to try in a few other recipes – maybe a casserole or a nicoise salad. But for now, an amazing lunch came together with some millet bread and clover sprouts. If you use canned chickpeas and a food processor, this recipe will take you 35 seconds. I actually used dried chickpeas because I subconsciously must have felt guilt that this recipe would be THAT easy.

Mock Tuna Salad
with slight variation from Happy Herbivore
1 cup dried chickpeas
1 1" piece kombu
2 celery stalks, broken roughly into pieces
1 dill pickle
1 tbsp dill pickle water
1 squirt lemon juice
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp tamari
2 heaping spoonfuls vegan mayo
1 sheet nori, shredded
salt + pepper to taste

1. Soak chickpeas with kombu overnight in water. Remove kombu, cook about an hour until beans are tender.
2. Process cooked chickpeas in food processor.
3. Add all other ingredients and blend.

7 comments:

Jenn said...

Kombu? Eek, I have no idea what that is. Enlighten me, please. :)

Culinary Wannabe said...

How creative! I'm icked out by canned tuna (all those mercury reports are scary!), this is a great solution!

Anonymous said...

I like your name much better than mock tuna! It took me a while to try this, but when I did, I was really happy with the result! I didn't use seaweed (aka kombu) in my version, though :) (Oh, and I've had this for lunch at work many times--no one knows!)

Michelle said...

Jenn--kombu is giant sheetlike seaweed you can buy in the Asian section of grocery stores. You wouldn't eat it straight like you could nori... Instead it lends nutrients and natural salt to broths or in this case beans as they soak.

Wannabe--I know! And I've heard icky things about aluminum canned food in general. That's why I'll cook beans myself whenever I can!

Ricki--glad you dig the name!

Darya Pino said...

looks great, michelle! i like my garbanzo mash a little spicy, so some cayenne gives a nice kick.

if you aren't so veggie (guilty as charged), tuna is really good for you too so you could have both!

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

AWW! thanks for the compliment -- you made me blush and your mock tuna looks beautiful! what a happy, healthy sammie!! (and that is seriously the best name EVER - shove over lame "mock tuna")

ArtZenFlowers Color and Design said...

Michelle; I love the Mock Tuna recipe any excuse to eat more G'banzOs! But more then that the great laugh I got from your comments! You are hysterical!
Keep it up!
NHA