Chickpea Salad is incredibly versatile. It’s fabulous as a side to almost any dish but it’s especially good as a gluten-free vegan sandwich filling. Dill is a much underused herb that really adds to the flavour and texture of this salad. The capers add a rich, salty tang that really roots the flavours of the salad whilst nori adds an umami flavour that works so well.
I’ve been making this salad (and versions of it), for eons and have seen lots and lots of similar salads called ‘chickpea tuna’. I don’t call this salad ‘chickpea tune’ as:
- I’ve always (really, really) hated the taste fish so ‘chickpea tuna’ isn’t at all appealing to me and
- It doesn’t always work to use the ‘let’s pretend it’s not vegan‘ thing by calling something by a non-vegan name or using a non-vegan word in the name. It doesn’t work with chickpea tuna, it just disappoints people who are expecting tuna and puts off people who dislike tuna.
My ‘chickpea tuna’ digression is now over…
Chickpea Salad makes a fabulous sandwich filling. I love a sandwich of two slices of gluten-free, vegan bread with Chickpea Salad, a layer of houmous, Dijon mustard, some fabulous crisp lettuce and tomato and sprinkled with sea salt flakes and black pepper. One easy and delicious lunch!
Allergy Information – Chickpea Salad
Chickpea Salad is gluten-free and vegan as well as… coconut free, garlic free, lupin free, mustard free, nightshade free, onion free, peanut free, sesame free, soya free, tree nut free.
Top Tips – Chickpea Salad
I like this salad somewhere between smooth and rough – you can choose how you have it… Totally rough chopped or super smooth. Both have their advantages. If you are planning on using this as a sandwich filling I would go half way between rough-chop and smooth.
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Recipe – Chickpea Salad
Difficulty easy
Serves 4-6
Preparation time 10 minutes
Cooking time 0 minutes
Ingredients – Chickpea Salad
1 can chickpeas
2 sticks celery
1 tablespoon capers (in brine), drained
Quarter of a sheet of nori or 0.5 teaspoon nori flakes
Juice and zest half a lemon
2 sprigs fresh dill
0.5 teaspoon sea salt flakes
0.25 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Method – Chickpea Salad
1. Drain the chickpeas (keep the liquid for other fab recipes like Strawberry and Raspberry Eaton Mess) and place in a food processor/ blender and pulse to break up to a rough chop
2. Finely chop the celery, capers, nori sheet and dill and add to the chickpeas with the lemon juice and zest and salt and pepper
3. Pulse to get the texture you want (I like it so the salad is well mixed and chunky)
4. Serve as a side or in a delicious sandwich.
