Vegetarian Mock Tuna Salad ~ Meatless Monday

Vegetarian Mock Tuna Salad made with Garbanzo Beans ~ This makes such a tasty vegetarian version of the classic Tuna Salad Sandwich, especially when served with some homegrown tomatoes & cucumber.  Mock Tuna Salad is also perfect in stuffed tomatoes, pitas, topping a garden salad or crowning half an avocado.

I was craving a tuna fish sandwich the other day, but we were all out of canned tuna.  Darn!   I started searching in the pantry for something else to eat, when I came upon a can of garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) & knew I had the makings of a great meal!  I'd almost forgotten about how I used to make a vegetarian ~ Mock Tuna Salad ~ using those tasty, roundish, pale golden beans.  I'm so glad I remembered, it's been way too long since I enjoyed this simple, but pleasing salad! 



Making my vegetarian ~ Mock Tuna Salad ~ couldn't be easier.  All you do is gather all of the items you would normally add to your favorite tuna salad & mix them together with a can of garbanzo beans that's already been drained & smashed.  Just make sure to leave some of the beans a little chunky.   When you mix all the ingredients together, the beans have the look & color of light tuna fish chunks & the flavor is surprisingly similar to the real thing ~ especially with the extra ingredients that so often go into a traditional tuna salad.  Some Mock Tuna Salad add-ins that you could include in your salad might be ~ low-fat mayo, diced celery, sweet pickle relish, sliced green onions, lemon juice, dill weed, dulse/nori, capers & maybe even some chopped-up hard boiled egg ~ the sky's the limit!



Make your Mock Tuna Salad as simple or complex as you like.  I usually go for simple, just adding some Hellmann's Low-Fat Mayo, cracked black pepper & a bit of dulse. (a type of seaweed, to give it a salty, 'hint-of-the-ocean' marine aroma/flavor ~ or ~ you could use your favorite dried flaked/ground sea vegetable)  This Mock Tuna Salad is great in a sandwich, as the filling in the center of a stuffed tomato, nestled in an avocado half, or even just plopped on top of your garden salad.  Make it vegan by using a vegan mayo ~ so simple!  Anyway you decide to enjoy it, this vegetarian salad makes for a tempting, satisfying meal.  Enjoy!  :)


4 comments:

  1. Never heard of this one. Come to think of it, I've got two cans of garbanzo beans in my pantry. Thanks for the lunch idea for tomorrow!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope you enjoy it! I'm thinking of trying it with a chicken salad spin next time. Think I'll try adding some different add-in's like ~ sliced red grapes, celery, slivered almonds or walnuts, some poultry seasoning/sage, mayo/ranch dressing. I just love tinkering with stuff. :) Thanks for stopping by ~ Cheers!

      Delete
  2. This is AWESOME! I have a love-hate relationship with Tuna--I tolerated it just for tuna egg salads--and now I can give in to my hate!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahahaha! Thanks for making me laugh! I used to have to add a bunch of stuff to tuna to eat it. Now that I use Hellmann's Lowfat Mayo (it tastes just like their full fat version ~ Yeah!) I can keep it simple. (that & getting the solid white tuna :) If you haven't tried that brand of mayo, give it a try. (west of the Rockies it's called Best Foods Mayo) There is something about the rich flavor that really works for me, not too sweet, not to vinegary & the lowfat version tastes great. Thanks so much for stopping by, commenting & making me smile! Cheers!

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...