Vegan Tuna Salad with Chickpeas

Before I became a vegan, I’ve always loved tuna sandwiches and salads. When I found shredded dried seaweed at our local Asian market the other day, I just knew I had to make a vegan version of it, so I ended up with this vegan tuna salad. It’s really easy to make, packed with protein, and super delicious!

The main ingredient of this vegan tuna salad are chickpeas. You first gotta mash them with a fork until they have a flaky texture. Then add some homemade vegan mayonnaise, finely chopped celery, fresh dill, and soaked seaweed. The seaweed is very important in this recipe as it gives it its “fishy” flavor. As already mentioned, I used shredded dried seaweed, which I soaked in water for a couple of minutes, but I think kelp granules might be even better! The vegan tuna salad is great on its own, but also on a sandwich paired with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber!

How I became vegetarian and ultimately vegan

A lot of people asked me how and why I became vegan. So here’s the story: About a week after my sixteenth birthday, I went on a field trip to Spain with my Spanish class and my Canadian exchange partner, who was staying with my family in Germany at that time. On one of our day trips to Barcelona, we went to Mercat de la Boqueria, a huge market in Barcelona’s city center. Near the entrance, they had tons of colorful candy and fruits and it seemed like such a nice place to me. Then we went further in and of course they didn’t only offer fruit and candy but also meat and fish. I really didn’t know what I was thinking, but I just hadn’t really thought about where the meat I ate came from, and I was so disgusted when I saw piglets hanging from the ceiling! So when we came home from our trip, I told my parents that I wasn’t eating meat anymore. However, I still didn’t know a lot about factory farming back then and I decided to eat fish once in a while. It wasn’t until years later that I watched a documentary about the egg industry,  read a couple of books such as  Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, and finally changed to a plant-based diet. And I’m so happy I did!  I got to know so many new foods and ingredients in the last couple of years and I just love spending time in the kitchen! Besides, my skin problems got so much better since I switched to a vegan diet! :-) If you’re interested you can read more about that on the About Me page. 

I hope you like this vegan tuna salad as much as I do! Have a great week! xx

Vegan Tuna Sandwich

This vegan tuna salad with chickpeas is not only great on its own but also on a sandwich paired with tomato, lettuce, and cucumber.

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Course: Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 20 mins

Servings: 2

Ingredients

For the Chickpea Tuna Salad:

• 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 1/4 red onion,finely chopped
• 3-4 tablespoons store-bought or homemade vegan mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons dried seaweed or kelp granules
• 2 teaspoons fresh dill
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
• pepper
• salt

For the Vegan Mayonnaise:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon guar gum if you don't got guar gum, you can also leave it out and double the amount of oil instead

For the Sandwich:

• 4 slices whole wheat sandwich toast
• 1 tomato
• 1/4 cucumber
• iceberg lettuce

Instructions

• Make the mayonnaise: In a blender, combine all ingredients except the oil and the guar gum and let it sit for 1-2 minutes. Then blend on high until smooth. Add the guar gum and slowly stream in the oil. Blend until the mixture slowly thickens.
• Soak the shredded dried seaweed in water for about 5 minutes. Then finely chop it.
• Mash the chickpeas with a fork until they have a flaky texture. Stir in the celery, mayonnaise, dill, seaweed, and onions and season with soy sauce, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper.
• Serve on whole wheat toast with tomato, cucumber, and lettuce or eat by itself.

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