Mock Tuna (Chickpea) Salad

Isn't it ironic! I have owned the Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau for over a year and I don't think I have baked a recipe from it. Yet on the weekend I went to the library and borrowed The Vegan Table by the same author. I have already made one of the recipes.

The name of the recipe "Better than tuna salad" strikes me as a little bit silly because I don't think I ever ate (or enjoyed) tuna salad. I wouldn't touch a tuna salad with a barge pole. Not even if you paid me! Not even if it was the last salad in the world! But I had to exercise self control to stop myself eating this salad all at once. It was that good!

However I have to give a qualified thumbs-up to The Vegan Table. Ms Patrick-Goudreau can't claim all the credit. Her salad was a little sweet, possibly because of my soy mayo and my lack of seasoning. But I checked out the Mock Tuna Salad recipe by Ricki at Diet Dessert and Dogs. I don't think Ricki has posted a recipe that I don't love and instantly want to try (and now is doing SOS Kitchen Challenge - it is Rhubarb this month). I couldn't make a mock tuna salad without remembering that I still hadn't tried her version. Which was lucky, because it was Ricki's seasonings that lifted this salad from good to great.

I make no claims about this salad being anything like tuna. I wouldn't offend this lovely salad with such odious comparisons. But it is a fantastically moreish salad. It would make a healthy and satisfying lunch with bread or rice crackers. We ate it as a side salad and it went very well with the leftover macaroni cheese, roasted eggplant and sweet potato and lemony greens. Impressed? Good! Because last week I lost my cooking mojo. The meals I cooked were ok but unsatisfying due to a lack of energy to think through any side dishes. Tonight I made amends with these great sides!

It is late and I wish I had time to rave about the salad more but instead I want to share a few links to words of wisdom on the web, discovered recently thanks to generous bloggers who share their interesting links:

• Michael Ruhlman: Message to Food Editors - what 30 minute meals really mean - a great article that challenges how the media shapes our priorities and values through promoting meals that don't take long to prepare. "Don't tell me you're too busy to cook. We all have the same hours every day, and we all choose how to use them."

• Gluten Free Girl - Carry that Weight - an amazingly honest and thoughtful post about a journey from a sick baby to weight gain to regaining good health - sometimes comfort food seems more important than good health! "If you ever look at someone who is overweight (in your mind), and think, "Wow, she's really let herself go," just remember that there is always a story behind it."

• All My Babies Are Gone Now by Anna Quindlen (originally found at Baking and Books - no longer there but can be found at College Confidential) - a beautiful piece of writing about seeing her children all grown up and reflecting on the advice, the worry and the serendipity of child-rearing. "I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Apricot Crumble: a moveable feast
This time two years ago: Bagels, Boiling and Baking
This year three years ago: WHB: Reconciliation damper, snags and dead horse

Mock Tuna (Chickpea) Salad
Adapted from the Vegan Table and Diet Dessert and Dogs
Serves 3-4 as a side dish

1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, rinsed, drained and mashed with a fork
1 carrot, grated
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
½ red capsicum, finely chopped
1 spring onion, finely sliced
¼ cup mayonnaise (I used soy)
1½ tsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp seeded mustard

Mix everything together and enjoy!

UPDATE: February 2016 I still enjoy this salad regularly.  Today I made it with truffle mayonnaise and apple cider vinegar (no lemons in the house).  And I updated the top photo.

UPDATE: October 2016 - I made this salad today and didn't have mayo so I used an extra tsp each of seeded mustard, lemon juice, and olive oil, plus an extra 1/2 tsp of soy sauce and maple syrup - probably could have had a bit less seasoning.  Cashew nut butter or tofu might have been good to add but either would have been too much hassle!

On the Stereo:
The very best of Crowded House