Vegetarian Mock Tuna Salad ~ Meatless Monday

Vegetarian Mock Tuna Salad made with Garbanzo Beans ~ This makes such a tasty vegetarian version of the classic Tuna Salad Sandwich, especially when served with some homegrown tomatoes & cucumber.  Mock Tuna Salad is also perfect in stuffed tomatoes, pitas, topping a garden salad or crowning half an avocado.

I was craving a tuna fish sandwich the other day, but we were all out of canned tuna.  Darn!   I started searching in the pantry for something else to eat, when I came upon a can of garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) & knew I had the makings of a great meal!  I'd almost forgotten about how I used to make a vegetarian ~ Mock Tuna Salad ~ using those tasty, roundish, pale golden beans.  I'm so glad I remembered, it's been way too long since I enjoyed this simple, but pleasing salad! 

Making my vegetarian ~ Mock Tuna Salad ~ couldn't be easier.  All you do is gather all of the items you would normally add to your favorite tuna salad & mix them together with a can of garbanzo beans that's already been drained & smashed.  Just make sure to leave some of the beans a little chunky.   When you mix all the ingredients together, the beans have the look & color of light tuna fish chunks & the flavor is surprisingly similar to the real thing ~ especially with the extra ingredients that so often go into a traditional tuna salad.  Some Mock Tuna Salad add-ins that you could include in your salad might be ~ low-fat mayo, diced celery, sweet pickle relish, sliced green onions, lemon juice, dill weed, dulse/nori, capers & maybe even some chopped-up hard boiled egg ~ the sky's the limit!

Make your Mock Tuna Salad as simple or complex as you like.  I usually go for simple, just adding some Hellmann's Low-Fat Mayo, cracked black pepper & a bit of dulse. (a type of seaweed, to give it a salty, 'hint-of-the-ocean' marine aroma/flavor ~ or ~ you could use your favorite dried flaked/ground sea vegetable)  This Mock Tuna Salad is great in a sandwich, as the filling in the center of a stuffed tomato, nestled in an avocado half, or even just plopped on top of your garden salad.  Make it vegan by using a vegan mayo ~ so simple!  Anyway you decide to enjoy it, this vegetarian salad makes for a tempting, satisfying meal.  Enjoy!  :)