Like most children, I grew up eating tuna salad sandwiches. It was always such an easy meal for my mom to whip together with little effort and once I became old enough, it was one of the first things I started making for myself. Though I never cared for seafood as a child, canned tuna was just one of those staples I didn’t even think of as seafood, I just liked it in a sandwich. Now that I’m all grown up and have eliminated all animal products from my diet, I miss some of the staples from my childhood, not for the content but for the ease of preparation and the satisfaction they brought me. I’m a firm believer that anything can be veganized and when I started seeing chickpea “tuna” recipes showing up around the web, I decided to make my own based on the ingredients I used as a child. Easy. Robin Robertson has a similar chickpea “tuna” recipe posted online on Vegan Planet that I used for inspiration, it was the closest to what I remember from my youth. This recipe takes about 10 minutes to prepare and keeps well in the fridge for days though I doubt it will last that long, it’s so tasty I take a bite every time I walk by the fridge.

Chickpea “Tuna” Salad

• 2 celery sticks, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 red onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 dill pickle spear, coarsely chopped (or 2 tbsp dill relish)
• 1/2 cup Vegenaise
• 1 tsp spicy brown mustard
• 1 tbsp Bragg’s Sea Kelp Delight*
• 1 tsp celery salt
• 2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, washed
• Fresh pepper, to taste

2) Add vegenaise, mustard, sea kelp delight powder and celery salt to bowl and mix well.

3) Put chickpeas in food processor and pulse gently until chickpeas are well broken up but not mushy.

4) Add chickpeas to vegetable bowl, and mix well. Add fresh pepper to taste and mix.

5) Let chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge though the longer the better. Serve in sandwiches, on crackers, or in lettuce wraps.