A tuna fish sandwich is a classic lunch choice, but for a variety of reasons some people are staying away from tuna these days. Here's a vegetarian (and vegan) alternative version for those who miss that tangy, creamy lunchtime treat. Ask any mermaid you happen to see, this version is a winner!
Depending on what kind you buy, it can be unethical, not to mention downright dangerous, to consume tuna. The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch has the details, but basically some tuna can contain dangerous amounts of mercury and if fished improperly, can result in large quantities of bycatch of threatened and endangered species.
Chickpea of the Sea uses delicious, healthy chickpeas instead of canned tuna. The salty umeboshi vinegar introduces a seafood-like flavor, and I've heard that crumpling in some dried seaweed (like half a sheet of toasted nori) is also delicious. Both can be found in well-stocked grocery stores and specialty stores that carry Japanese ingredients. I would imagine a few capers would work as well.
This recipe is based on one from The Kripalu Cookbook and has been in my mother's repertoire for 15 years. My mother is decidedly not a vegetarian, which attests to just how good this sandwich spread is! So give it a try next time you want something just a little different. It comes together in minutes, even if you go the unplugged route.
Chickpea of the Sea Sandwich
adapted from The Kripalu Cookbook. Makes 2 to 4 sandwiches1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons umeboshi vinegar
2 teaspoons celery seeds
1/4 cup chopped celery, from about one rib
2 tablespoons sliced scallions, from about about two scallions
Pinch cayenne pepper, optional
Freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Whole grain or artisan-style bread, to serve
Lettuce leaves, washed and dried well, to serve
Place chickpeas in the bowl of a food processor and pulse two or three times to roughly chop. Add remaining ingredients and pulse two or three times more to incorporate.
Lay out the bread and place the lettuce leaves on two slices. Spoon on the Chickpea of the Sea and top with the other slice of bread. Cut in half and enjoy!
Vegan Alternative:
Use vegan mayo or a vinaigrette in place of the mayonnaise. (Try one of these two vegan mayonnaise recipes.)
Unplugged Alternative:
Place the drained chickpeas in a bowl and mash slightly with a fork. Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined. You may want to chop the celery and onions a little finer for this version, since they won't be getting an additional chop in the processor.
Related: Another Reason Not to Eat Tuna?
(Images: Faith Durand)
Originally published April 14, 2010.
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This sounds delicious! I will definitely give this a try.
So weird, my mother JUST sent me a recipe like this! I am having it for lunch today!
I also added some lima beans (because I love lima beans) and used mustard instead of vinegar. Mine turned out pretty good, I don't quite have the perfect recipe, I didn't have an celery last night and her recipe also called for some grated carrots.
My dad's an omnivore but eats a similar chickpea salad sandwich for lunch almost every day. :) He adds black olives and tahini.
I make a version of this all the time - love it. although, I add a little hijiki (dried seaweed - soaked first). it adds a little bit of a "fishy" sea-like taste, which I know sounds weird, but it really works. there's a great vegan version of this recipe in "Vegan with a Vengeance".
My mom made this all the time when I was growing up (we were vegetarian). I'm no longer vegetarian, but I still prefer it to tuna salad! I just make it the same way I would tuna salad: smash the chick peas a little with a fork and stir in mayo, celery, onion, relish, and s&p. It's very good on toasted bread with lettuce and some sriracha.
I love this! Just got a recipe for a Chickpea Pot Pie I'm dying to try also!
And on a silly, personal note, another thing I love is the name... thank you for not calling this a "mock tuna fish" sandwich. I always give my veg-vegan friends a hard time when they try to feed me their creations and call it mock_____. Mock is just unappetizing to me... Chickpea of the Sea makes me chuckle AND hungry!
yum. i'll have to give this version a whirl. i like the idea of the scallions.
@babyboomerang i'm with you on the hijiki and the VWAV recipe.
i also do a version of this that i call sea cakes - it's a play on crab cakes with the chickpeas and seaweed.
This is perfect... I am taking over creating bag lunch and I had been looking for this.
Deep Bows
D
This is awesome. I eat hummus sandwiches all the time for lunch and this seems like a good twist on that.
Thank you for including the "Unplugged" version!! :D
I'm trying this tonight, sounds delish!
Does it really only make two sandwiches with a whole can of chickpeas? It seems like that'd be a huge amount of sandwich filling.
I've never heard of umebochi vinegar...can someone provide information?
Does anyone have a recommendation for a substitute for umebochi vinegar? I have all the other ingredients!
You could use plain or seasoned rice vinegar instead. Or sherry vinegar, I wonder? Umeboshi are very small, very tart pickled Japanese plums. So the vinegar has a fruity flavor.
The umeboshi also provides the saltiness. I used to think it helped provide the 'of the sea' taste, too, but now feel that's best captured by wakame or nori, or any seaweed.
If you don't have umeboshi vinegar, you can use the rice vinegar as suggested in the comments, as well as cider vinegar. Just add salt to taste, since you may need it without the umeboshi.
I'd add some chopped apple and raisins Yum!
if you're concerned about chemicals in your food, why are you using canned chickpeas? all commercial cans contain BPA. buy raw chickpeas in bulk for pennies on the dollar, soak overnight, and simmer for 2 hours with turmeric in the water. it's about a million times healthier, cheaper and there's no harmful packaging.
This sounds great! Now I just need a vegetarian version of chicken salad (oddly, at the top of "meaty things I miss most" list!). Thanks for posting this; it's gone straight to the top of my must-make list.
I would rather have egg salad, if it's all the same to you...
I made this for lunch today. STELLAR!
gildeddawn: The sandwich in the photo was made with 1/2 the recipe, but you could perhaps stretch it into 3 sandwiches.
omgsoy: I agree with the economy (and taste!) of cooking chickpeas from scratch. In fact, the original recipe calls for that. I offered the canned version here because of time and convenience, but I really appreciate your bringing this up. People should note that chickpeas can take a while to cook, sometimes as long as 2 hours. So you may want to simmer them the night before if you are making this for lunch.
Also, not ALL cans contain BPA. Eden Organics offers BPA-free canned chickpeas, for instance.
I just started cooking my own chickpeas and what a difference! I was about to make them tonight to make Orangette's recipe you mentioned above, but now I have to try this, too!
I love chickpeas and am grateful for a new possibility. I really enjoyed this, but I used seasoned vinegar (no umeboshi vinegar on hand) and salted the mixture a little. I also skipped the celery since it's so expensive in Japan and I'm not a big fan of it. I think that 1.5 tbsp. of vinegar was a bit much for me, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this.
For chickpea fans, I have a recipe for chickpea shepard's pie. It could be vegetarian if one substituted vegetable bouillon for the beef cubes. The recipe is here:
http://carlskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/08/chickpea-shepherds-pie.html
I made this yesterday. Loved it so much made it again today! Didn't use the vinegar, just added nori seaweed and it was delish.
Didn't have celery, so skipped that, otherwise followed mostly--just used smashed chickpeas, a teaspoon of white vinegar, dijon mustard, some fennel seed and a tiny bit of celery salt, was spicy, flavorful and delicious! Thanks so much!
Almost forgot, only used a tablespoon of mayo, didn't seem to need anymore with the mustard!
Great recipe! I just finished making this and eating this for lunch. I'm a vegan, and I never liked tuna anyway, so this was the perfect recipe for me. (Although I also omitted the celery and used chopped carrots instead, because celery was just too expensive at the supermarket. I hope to pick some up at the greenmarket, instead.) My husband said the recipe could use a little sweetness from something like pickle relish. Pickle relish is what we traditionally use in things like tuna salad, egg salad, potato salad, etc., so basically, if you want it to taste more like what you're used to, just adjust the recipe to be more like your mom's.
Thanks, Dana!
This sounds delicious! I'm not a vegetarian, but I gave up eating tuna fish as a kid back in the 80s when all of the reports were coming out about dolphins getting caught in the nets--dolphins are one of my favorite animals. And now I pretty much just don't eat seafood at all. But I am always on the lookout for sandwiches that are more interesting than the "slap some meat and cheese on bread" type, since that's usually all I have time to fix before heading to work. This looks like it might not take very long and therefore might be a good way of breaking up my lunchtime monotony!
This is a great recipe, and so filling too. A portable lunch is always a challenge. Thanks!
I made this last night and it is SO good! I've been a veggie for almost 17 years and I've always missed tuna salad and this tastes just like what I remember it to taste like! I am definitely going to make this again.
A pressure cooker is a good way to cook legumes. I've finally cooked them this morning (only 10 minutes in a PC) and will try this tonight, perhaps with a dash of dill.
DELICIOUS! I had to make 3 batches last night because my kids would wander in, taste, and then request their own sandwich. A definite keeper!
Kelp powder also works to lend a fishy taste.
Yay! Thank you for this post - I've stopped buying and eating almost all fish -- aside from our freshwater local fish here in MI a few times a year -- mainly for the reasons stated in the article. Am missing the tuna fish sandwich and all that it delivers -- I'm going to make this tomorrow -- yum!
According to the Eden products site, their umeboshi vinegar contains 1050mg sodium / teaspoon so this recipe would have 2,362 mg sodium per serving from just the vinegar.
Not for those (like me) on sodium restricted diets
Dana V, I beg you, don't waste fuel and attention for two hours simmering chickpeas! That's what pressure cookers are for. I take 20 minutes* to boil up a big batch every few weekends, and always have some in the freezer.
*And that's when I cook on a whim, and haven't soaked them overnight. Otherwise, 10 minutes pressure-cooking and leave it to cool without tampering.
I admire people who can think ahead to cook chickpeas for 2 hours but quite frankly I always end up deciding when I am hungry what I am going to eat.
I think the recipe sounds great.
This was delicious! I'm new to being a vegan and I'm constantly looking for good lunch recipes that will do for work. This was really yummy and versatile, I think I can change it up a lot of ways like I used to chicken and tuna sandwiches. Thanks!
i will be making the vegan version! thank you!
We make something similar to this with curry powder, mayonnaise, chopped celery and scallions, and mango chutney. Makes great sandwiches on whole grain bread with lettuce and thinly sliced red onion! The curry version also tastes even better if you make it the day before you plan to eat it.
I made this with milk mayonnaise and chopped red onion - came out delicious!
http://smultronsoul.blogspot.com/
this came out wonderful i give it 6 out of 5 stars!! thank you for sharing :)
I'm jealous of all you people who can eat a lot of chickpeas and not have your stomach swell up!
A great vegan mayo is "Veganaisse"
Eden and Trader Joes both have BPA-free beans.
American Tuna company offers low mercury tuna from six fishing families. Great product but expensive of course.
I got a little too excited and over processed this in my cuisinart today - and voila! an awesome dip!! so delicious with pita bread :)
My 2c--I usually throw in some celery seed instead of celery, mainly for flavor because I hate having to buy a whole bunch of stalks, most of which end up rubbery in my fridge. Celery seed is a nice compromise!
Also, I make my chickpeas from scratch and freeze them in can sizes--ie, each container has 1.5c or so of cooked beans. This way they're super handy.
Sounds good!
Chickpeas are great for having a similar texture to meats you might miss as a vegetarian. I roast them and put them in a pie with roasted mushrooms and tarragon, and a lemon-pepper crust,and they have an almost chicken-y texture! A better flavor, though, I think!
made this in 2010 when the recipe was first posted. sorry to be a contrary voice, but: meh. Love chickpeas, but not this way!
This is SO good... both the husband and I like this so much better than regular tuna salad. It's remarkably similar, but we both love chickpeas, so the differences seem like an improvement. So cheap, tasty, and healthy, and endlessly adaptable - just add whatever you like to add to tuna salad. I like chopped walnuts and dill pickles/dill relish, green onions, and celery, personally.
We've made this a ton of times since seeing this recipe...and actually I'm bringing it for lunch today! Also great with crackers or veggies as a dip, on lettuce leaves as a roll-up, in tomato cups, etc.
We love this dish at our house. My kids beg me to prepare this, and my 16 yr old son eats it for breakfast! So, so good!
I did not want all the fat from the mayo. Therefore I substituted it with 1/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt and came out with great results.
My husband has been lamenting his lack of tuna salad sandwiches since "the switch" and has refused to try the vegan and vegetarian alternatives but I got the ingredients (minus the umebochi vinegar) and he devoured the mixture by the end of the day. I opted for a teaspoon of relish and a couple sprinkles of nori to create the salty/fishy taste. I honestly thought that I would hear "I want a tuna fish sandwich..." for the rest of my life but after this recipe all I can hear from him is "Did you make the faux tuna mix yet?"
I hate that this gets compared to tuna salad, becasue this is SO GOOD, and tuna salad is just tuna salad.
I put sunflower seeds in mine!
This looks great! I love everyone's ideas...just not sure which ones to start with! ;-)
I love this recipe. Although, I usually drain and rinse the chickpeas and then place them in a bowl, cover the beans with water and microwave for approx 1 minute to soften the chickpeas.
I've never liked the taste/smell of tuna, but found the idea of tuna sandwiches very appealing (especially fancy ones in food magazines!). Definitely trying this one!
Thank you for the vegan recipe! The more, the better.
Tried this for lunch yesterday...was delicious! Capers were a great addition. Thanks for the recipe!
Enginergirl: I know how you feel. I love chickpeas though. And I wonder about adding fish sauce? I'm not vegetarian, so I don't mind the fish.
Looks like tuna and smells almost like tuna....but the celery seeds ruined it for me. It was too strong and bitter and we did not like it. We just threw the entire batch out. I love garbanzo beans and I love hummus so I'm going to try this again without the celery seeds and less umebochi vinegar; was a bit salty for my taste.
is there onions in the recipe? It says there is onions in the "alternative" section but I dont see them in the ingredient list.
I add two boiled eggs to mine. You can use Northern beans if not a fan of chickpeas.
I've been eating this for years -- but I used curry as my spice. Very yummy.
also thinking about experimenting with a tiny bit of fish sauce in this recipe....
Just like someone previously mentioned, I just googled the nutritional info for the ume plum vinegar. 1tsp is 44% of your sodium intake for the day-YIKES! I think I'll be substituting it for Nori instead.
I just made this and it was Delicious! I added sliced tomato and avocado to my sandwich too! :) www.pamelahill.net