This Mock Chicken Salad is really good. My mom found this recipe a couple years ago from one of her magazines, probably Forks Over Knives. Anyway, this mock salad is made with chickpeas. If you truly do not like the taste of chickpeas, then this is not for you. It does have a slight taste of chickpea but not overwhelming. You can also taste like a nutty, but smooth, creamy texture. If you don’t like the texture that you get with your first try, then you can process it a little more to take the lumps out, or you can make it chunkier by less processing. This will need to be decided while you have the chickpeas in the food processor, not after you have made the complete salad. You can change any of the ingredients to fit your taste. My mom has made this with four different types of mayonnaise and found that we enjoyed using Duke’s, Vegan Mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, and this last time we used Hellmann’s. All of them tasted really good, but my favorite is the Miracle Whip because it is light in texture and is a salad dressing, not a mayonnaise. You can use whichever mayonnaise you like with yours. I also like to add more pickles to my sandwich and load my sandwich with Alfalfa and Cilantro. Oh, and I like to lightly toast my sourdough bread.

Here are a couple of tips that we have noticed that makes a difference in the texture of the salad’s final results. First, allow the chickpeas to rest in the colander for 30 minutes after rinsing, this helps make the salad mixture not so watery. Second, while you are waiting for those to dry up a bit, you can take the waxy coating/protective hull off of the chickpeas. Just slightly pinch the pea and the hull will come off. Discard the hull in your empty can. Do about half the peas or you can do all of them if you want. We have noticed by doing this, it gives the salad a smoother consistency and it is easier to digest, in our opinion.

Mock Chicken Salad

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 (15oz) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup vegan mayo
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 celery ribs, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup pickles, chopped (dill or sweet)
• 2 scallions, sliced thin
• 2 TBSP freshly minced dill, parsley or tarragon
• bread or crackers

HOW TO MAKE

1. Process 3/4 cup chickpeas, mayo, water, lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp salt in food processor (FP) until smooth, approx. 30 sec. Scrapping down the sides as needed.
2. Add remaining chickpeas to FP and pulse until coarsely chopped with chunky bits remaining, about 4 pulses.
3. Combine chickpea mixture, celery, pickles, scallions and fresh choice of herbs in a medium bowl. Add salt & pepper to season with taste.
4. Spread mixture on bread, toast, or crackers.

Curried Chickpea Salad

Add 1 TBSP curry powder to mixture in FP during step 1 and substitute 1/2 cup golden raisins for the pickles.

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