ECO Lunchbox Three-in-One #71

My own take on smashed chickpea "tuna" salad, sliced tomatoes, and toast. (Not much food because of a planned work event that involved a lot of snacks in the afternoon. I had requested kettle cooked potato chips and I knew I was going to eat rather a lot of them. I regret nothing.)

A lot of people say that the vegan substitute for tuna salad is smashed chickpea salad. It's not a one-to-one correlation. But I realized somewhere along the way that one of the reasons I wasn't getting a fulfillment of my need for a tuna salad flavor was that these salads weren't made the way I used to make tuna salad. I didn't put mustard or peppers in my tuna salad, but I did put in dill pickle relish. I often put finely chopped or shredded carrots into it, sometimes apples (no apples here, but you could probably add some if you wanted). As soon as I tasted this, I knew that this will now be my default chickpea salad. For me, this hits all those childhood tuna salad flavors.

And so here we are. This is enough for about two sandwiches.

Smashed Chickpea "Tuna" Salad
Serves: 1-2

About 1/2 a can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed (roughly 3/4 cup)
A 3-inch length of carrot, very finely chopped
A 3-inch length of celery, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon kelp granules (optional, but this does help it seem more fishy, plus you get some nice minerals)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2-3 tablespoons dill pickle relish
Enough vegan mayo to bind (I used about 2-3 tablespoons of reduced fat Vegenaise)
Salt and pepper to taste

Smash the chickpeas in a bowl with a fork. You don't want them overly smashed, but make sure each chickpea is at minimum smashed in half. It should still have some texture.

Add the other ingredients to the bowl. Mix well. Taste and adjust seasonings.