Best Vegan “Tuna” Salad
that Actually Tastes of the Sea

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Let’s be honest: chickpeas do not taste like tuna. They simply don’t.

Maybe it’s been so long since we all tasted tuna that something vaguely the same color and texture mashed up in mayo will do the trick for some.

Not for this gal.

I have made chickpea tuna on several occasions before and been unimpressed with my efforts. But I had made an (exquisite!) aquafaba chocolate mousse on Saturday for a party that evening and had two cans of chickpeas left over.  I also had a craving. So I got to work. Though, in truth, this mock tuna salad is really no work.

In the process, I discovered 5 “secrets”:

Nori powder and soy sauce are critical for that briney hint of the sea. Dulce flakes simply don’t pack enough ocean punch.

Tartar sauce in place of mayo tricks the brain into thinking “sea.”  (I prefer tartar–with fresh dill, tarragon, sweet pickle relish and juice, and rice wine vinegar–made from my low calorie/ high flavor Blooming Platter Mayo, but a commercial brand of tartar, like Vegenaise–or commercial mayo made into tartar–would also be great in flavor)

Pickle relish lends that tuna sandwich-of-my-youth flavor.

Green onion provides a toned down reference to the diced white onion I loved in tuna salad as a kid.  And it also somehow hints at the ocean.

Well-mashed chickpeas are a must for a close texture approximation.

And there you have it.  As for serving, I haven’t eaten much bread in years, but if nothing other than a sandwich will do, go for it. I love the salad, instead, piled on a rice cake even though I am not gluten sensitive. I crave that low-calorie texture.

And, though I certainly didn’t eat tuna salad with fresh baby spinach as a child, I really love the color that the spinach leaves add to the whole presentation, as well as the flavor, texture, and nutrition.

For garnish, dill is a favorite flavor regardless, but it is especially delightful with tuna, so a little dab of additional mayo and a sprig of dill crowns this jewel. I just happened to have the baby tricolor pear tomatoes, so I popped a couple of those on the side for the most satisfying dinner on every level.

2-15.5 ounce cans chickpeas, very well drained but unrinsed, and coarsely mased with a fork

4 to 5 tablespoons vegan tartar sauce (you can use mayo, but tartar tricks the brain)

2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish (dill relish is fine if you don’t care for sweet)

2 large green onions, thinly sliced, both white and green parts

1 teaspoon soy sauce or Tamari

I teaspoon Nori powder (purchased or place 1 broken sheet Nori in spice or coffee grinder and pulverize)

Sea salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Betsy’s Best Bloomin’ Vegan Tuna Salad
I Reveal My Secret Ingredient

Yield: approximately 4 cups

Growing up, I ate LOTS of canned tuna salad.  After I became a vegetarian and then vegan, chickpea tuna salad seemed to be the standard substitution.  But I didn’t quite get it.  Something was missing; something from the sea.  So I started adding Nori.  (But you can add kelp, dulse, or whatever seaweed-derived product you prefer and can easily acquire.)  Still, that wasn’t quite it.  But then I tried the Hearts of Palm “crabcakes” from Vedge, the eoponymous cookbook from the storied vegan restaurant in Philly.

Brilliant.  For some reason Hearts of Palm–my father’s favorite vegetable (we would put cans of them in his stocking at Christmas)–have a taste and texture close to seafood.  (But not too close for that “ick” factor.)  This recipe is what resulted this week when I tried combining Hearts of Palm with chickpeas, Nori, and other typical tuna salad ingredients.

The walnuts are my nod to the the Omega 3s found in very few foods, including fish and, yes, walnuts.  And, oddly enough, they taste delicious and very appropriate on top.

Please enjoy this super-simple and cooling recipe, perfect for summer.

Note: if you prefer the ingredients to be more homogenized, pulse in a food processor.

1-15.5 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1-15.5 ounce can Hearts of Palm, rinsed, drained, and finely chopped [THE SECRET INGREDIENT]

3 celery hearts, diced

3 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise

Juice of 1/2 medium lemon

1 tablespoon Nori powder (or 1 sheet Nori torn into pieces and ground to a powder in an electric spice or coffee grinder)

2 teaspoons pickle relish

1/4 teaspoon soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Garnish: walnut halves or pieces

Place chickpeas in a medium-large bowl and coarsely mash.  Add diced Hearts of Palm and celery hearts.l.  In a small-medium bowl, whisk together all remaining ingredients, except walnut halves or pieces.  Pour over chickpea mixture, and toss to coat.  Refrigerate, covered, until serving time.  Serve on toasted whole grain bread with baby greens, a little more mayo, and walnut halves or pieces; on crackers; or old school-style, stuffed in a tomato with an “X” cut into the top and gently separated into 4 sections to make an edible “bowl”.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Best Hot Vegan Crab Dip (baked)

How can healthy and quick taste and feel so decadent and delicious?

12 ounces silken tofu
4 ounces vegan cream cheese
Optional (but recommended): 2 teaspoons vegan fish sauce, sold as vegetarian fish sauce at Asian markets
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Optional (but recommended):1 teaspoon Dulce flakes
Zest and juice of one medium lemon
Optional: 1 to 2 drops hot sauce
1 can hearts of palm, drained, and coarsely chopped
1 bunch or about six to seven green onions, thinly sliced
Optional: 1/4 cup + 2 T. shredded vegan parmesan (I like Follow Your Heart brand)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a medium ceramic or glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Process first 9 ingredients until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a medium bowl and fold in hearts of palm, green onions, and optional parmesan.  Transfer to baking dish, sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons parmesan, if desired, and bake for 20 minutes. Serve with toast, crostini, crackers, or raw vegetables.

Continue reading “Best Hot Vegan Crab Dip (baked)”

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Vegan Tomato-Tuna Stack

Tuna and Tomato StackYield: 4 servings (very light)

I love my Vegan Tuna Salad with Sunflower Seeds, Apples, Capers, and Fresh Dill on sandwiches, crackers, toasted bagels, and more.

But since I am the only one in this house who eats it–though, Minnie would love it–I had enjoyed quite a bit of it that way and wanted something different for dinner one evening last week.  Something that was light, cold, fresh, and maybe a touch hydrating as it’s already pretty hot and humid here in Coastal Virginia.

That’s when I remembered that, growing up, a popular “ladies’ lunch” was a scoop of tuna salad tucked inside a tomato, often with the top trimmed into a kind of zig-zag.  And recently, I had seen on that most unlikely of vegan inspirations, “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives,” a sauce that I was Jonesin’ for: mayo, mustard and Worcestershire.

So, not wanting to fool with hollowing out a tomato, nor wanting to waste any of this big beauty from the farmer’s market, I cut two thick slices, sandwiched my “tuna” inside, placed the stack on a bed of sprouts, and whipped together my vegan version of the Triple D sauce.  Voila: dinner!

This may well become a go-to summer meal at my house and, hopefully, at yours.

1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon Liquid Aminos or vegan Worcestershire Sauce (soy sauce would be fine in a pinch)

1 cup sprouts

8 large, 1/2-inch thick slices of fresh tomato

1 cup Vegan Tuna Salad with Sunflower Seeds, Apples, Capers, and Fresh Dill

 

12 large capers

Freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl or cup, whisk together mayonnaise, mustard and Liquid Aminos until well-combined.  Taste and adjust proportions if desired and set aside.  Arrange one-fourth of sprouts on 4 plates and top each with a tomato slice.  Divide vegan tuna salad among the 4 tomato slices and spread gently to edges.  Top each with a remaining tomato slice, dollop with one-fourth of the sauce, garnish with 3 capers each and finish with a sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.  Serve immediately.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Vegan “Tuna” Salad with Sunflower Seeds, Apple, Capers, and Dill

Nutty TunaYield: approximately 4 cups “tuna” salad

On Mother’s Day, my phenomenal weekend yoga instructor, Angela Philips, mentioned after our morning class that she had prepared her “Nutty Tuna,” made with sunflower seeeds, for her Mother’s Day brunch.  She had given me that recipe years ago and at the mere mention, I began craving it.

So I made a batch on Monday, but it wasn’t quite right.  I hadn’t consulted the recipe, choosing to make it from memory instead, and, among other things, I went overboard on my substitution of Nori powder for dulce flakes and used an inferior mayo I had on hand that had been given to me.  Honestly, it was kind of a dud.  I ate a fair amount of it during the week so as not to be wasteful, but it was off the mark, and I discarded the remainder today with little remorse.

But, this past Saturday, I purchased the ingredients I needed, tried it again yesterday afternoon, and I am happy to report that it is delicious.  This time, I consulted the recipe just to see if I needed to adhere more closely and decided that I didn’t because, for example, I didn’t want to include the parsley it called for and I knew I wanted mayonnaise to adhere all of the ingredients together, while the original recipe relies only on the moistness of the celery, onion, parsley, soaked sunflower seeds and a tiny bit of lemon juice.

From the original recipe, I did decide to use the capers called for instead of the pickle relish I had added last week.   When I was a pre-vegan kid, we always added pickle relish to our tuna salad, but it didn’t work so well with this vegan version.  And I added fresh dill, which Angela has started doing too.  Though I associate dill more with “chicken” salad, it is widely known to be compatible with seafood, and it is really nice in this recipe.  In addition, I included some dried apple, as we often chopped up fresh apple in our childhood tuna salad.  Since it is not apple season here and I had some moist and plump dried ones in the pantry, I opted for them and am so glad I did, as they lend just a hint of sweetness.

In the end, this recipe is a little down-home with all the mayo and a little upscale with the addition of capers.  As such, I think it is the best of both worlds and hope you agree.

Be sure to begin soaking sunflower seeds the day before you plan to serve the salad.

 

14 ounces roasted sunflower seeds (salted or not, but the salt will be drained away after soaking)

1 Nori sheet torn in pieces (or 1 teaspoon Nori powder or dulce flakes)

2 cups warm water

4 celery hearts, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

3 green onions, white and green parts, cut into 2-inch pieces

3 tablespoons drained fresh capers

1 cup lightly packed fresh dill fronds, stemmed and broken in half

Optional but very good: 1/3 cup dried apple pieces (be sure they are moist and plump)

1-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

8 to 10 tablespoons Vegenaise vegan mayonnaise (my favorite brand for this, but use the mayo of your choice)

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

Place sunflower seeds and Nori sheet pieces in medium bowl and cover with warm water.  Cover and let stand 8 hours or over night.  Drain, pressing gently, to remove as much water as possible.  Place celery, green onions, capers, fresh dill, optional dried apple, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice in bowl of food processor and pulse until finely minced, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.  Add drained and pressed sunflower seeds and continue pulsing until sunflower seeds are also finely minced.  Add mayonnaise, submerge into mixture with a spatula, and pulse until well combined.  I prefer almost a spread consistency, but still with lots of texture.  Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, and additional teaspoon of lemon juice, if desired.  Pulse just to distribute.  Serve immediately or chilled on a sandwich, toasted bagel, stuffed in a tomato, or on crackers.  Note: if you desire a more pronounced flavor of the sea and a darker color, use Nori powder or dulce flakes and add them to the mixture in the food processor rather than to the soaking water.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Vegan Crabcakes–A Crab-Friendly Chesapeake Bay Classic! (A Labor Day Menu Must!)

DSCN1746

Note: Navitas Naturals no longer has this recipe available on their website and I contacted them to see if they had it in an archive, but they do not. My sincere apologies. I hope to recreate it but I neglected to keep a copy myself. Live and learn.

If you crave crabcakes but not the crab, and if, like me, you haven’t been able to enjoy that particular blend of deep sea flavor, creamy interior, and crispy exterior in far too long, then you have come to the right place!

Navitas Naturals Nori Powder and Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) are my no-longer-secret ingredients for this new recipe for Vegan Crabcakes!  (Just click on the orange link to go directly to the Navitas Naturals website for the delicious recipe.)

So many of my recipes do not try to be anything they are not.  In other words, I was never such a meat/chicken/seafood devotee that, now, as a vegan, I seek to imitate those flavors on a regular basis.  BUT, there are some dishes that I like the notion of–most often because of the texture, a spice blend, or maybe a sauce–but like MUCH better veganized; think buffalo wings, seafood gumbo, chicken salad, egg salad, etc.  Crabcakes fall squarely–or roundly, as it were–into that category.

These crabcakes are held together by a faux mousseline.  Mousseline is a sauce traditionally made with whipped cream.  I snagged this tip from America’s Test Kitchen who recommends making a shrimp and cream mousseline to hold crabmeat together in a cake in order not to “deaden” the flavor through the use of mayonnaise or egg.  I make my mousseline out of TVP and soymilk (but feel free to use your favorite unsweetened non-dairy milk.

The mixture bound together nicely, but was difficult to flip in a skillet, and required way too much oil, mess and calories.  So, I baked my second batch and found them perfect.  No flipping is involved, and they hold together beautifully when moved by spatula from pan to plate.  They also have a very appealing mouth-feel that is not unappetizing due to a texture that is too soft.

I hope you find my Vegan Crabcakes to be deeply satisfying in every way!

Many thanks to Navitas Naturals for publishing this recipe on their website…and for offering such a spectacular product!!

Note: you may substitute 2 Nori sheets for the 2 teaspoons Nori Powder in the stock if the powder is difficult for you to access, though it is sold online.  If using Nori sheets, let them steep for about an hour in the hot stock before straining out, returning the stock to a simmer, and proceeding with recipe.)

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Vegan Fish-and-Chips (A Cleaned-Up British Classic!)

DSCN1363I don’t mean to brag, but…

If you eschew seafood, yet crave that briny taste of the sea, have I got a “fix” for you!

After one failed attempt to impart that elusive oceanic flavor to a vegetable-based alternative–tofu “fillets” in this case–I put the full weight of my mental capacity to the task at hand.

The result was a truly novel method for infusing the complex flavor and aroma of the sea into humble tofu triangles.  Hint: wrapping them in Nori sheets is one of my secrets.

This and all of the remaining secrets to my successful go at Vegan Fish-and-Chips are yours for the clicking at One Green Planet.

I call my version a “cleaned up British classic” because, after one oily and messy round of beer battering and frying the “fillets,” I created a different method for an ahoy-there-mate breading that is baked, as are my “chips.”  To me, the flavor AND the crunch of both are irresistible.  I hope you agree!

DSCN1371

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

VegNews Features the Blooming Platter’s Vegan Seafood Gumbo in This Week’s “Recipe Club” e-Newsletter

VegnNews Recipe Club--Vegan Seafood Gumbo--ScreenshotYield: 6 to 8 servings

Earlier this week, I was thrilled to learn that VegNews–THE culinary and lifestyle magazine for we meat-free folks–featured my brand new Vegan Seafood Gumbo recipe  in their culinary e-newsletter, “Recipe Club.”  Thanks to all the great folks at VegNews!

They were happy to grant me permission to post my recipe.  But, because they were so generous–and because everything they produce is of such high quality–I urge you to visit their website and scroll down on the right to  “Let’s Talk” where you can quickly sign up for the “Recipe Club” culinary e-newsletter with the click of a button.

Now, about that recipe…

Having once had a vegan gumbo prepared by one of the finest (albeit non-vegan) chefs on the Eastern Seaboard–and not caring for it–I thought a delicious briny-tasting seafood-flavored vegan gumbo simply couldn’t be achieved.

But fast-forward a few years and lots of cooking experience, and the stars aligned to bring authentic gumbo within my reach.  And I’m thrilled to share it with you

This is a true gumbo, folks; not a soup or a stew.  That means that the roux is all-important.  Besides fearing that I could never hit the right flavor profile, I shied away from gumbo for years, as I loathed the idea of standing over the stove, stirring a pot for nearly an hour.  But when I recently learned about an oven-baked method for making roux on Cook’s Country TV, that all changed.

Boy, did it!

Though gumbo is a fairly new addition to my repertoire, I am trying to make up for lost time.  My first recipe, one for a delicious (if I do say so) Vegan Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, was recently published here on One Green Planet.  However, since my Mississippi and Texas relatives have little more than disdain for any dish containing chicken and sausage that dares call itself gumbo, I knew I would have to eventually create a recipe for a vegan seafood gumbo.  And the opportunity presented itself sooner rather than later.  Actually,  a Sunday morning plus a powerful craving was all the urging I needed.

Laissez les bontemps rouler!

 

Blooming Platter Vegan Seafood Gumbo

Ingredients:

  • 5 3/4 cups water
  • 6 sheets Nori (roasted seaweed; the type used for making sushi)
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
  • 1/1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • 2 cups textured vegetable protein (TVP)
  • 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (I use white whole wheat)
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 small-medium finely diced yellow onion
  • 1 red or orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1 celery rib, chopped fine
  • 5 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme (or 1/4 teaspoon dry)
  • 1 teaspoon file (dried sassafras leaves)
  • 1-14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
  • 1/4 cup vegan fish sauce
  • 2 cups frozen cut okra, thawed
  • Accompaniment: 3 to 4 cups of cooked white rice

Preparation:

  1. MAKE STOCK  In a 4-quart saucepan, combine water, Nori, 1 tablespoon salt, Old Bay Seasoning, soy sauce, and lemon halves.  Cover loosely, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Turn off heat, cover tightly, and let sit while continuing with recipe.  Strain before using, pressing on solids with the back of a wooden spoon.
  2. MAKE ROUX Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large cast iron skillet or heavy Dutch oven (my preference) over medium heat, toast ¾ cup flour, stirring constantly, until just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in oil until smooth. Cover (use foil if you have no lid that fits your pan), transfer skillet or pot to oven, and cook until mixture is deep brown and fragrant, about 20 minutes, checking and stirring after 10. It will look almost chocolatey or the color of an old copper penny.  (If not making gumbo right away, store roux in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. To use, heat the roux in a  cast iron skillet or heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until just smoking, and continue with step 2.)
  3. COOK AROMATICS Transfer skillet or Dutch oven to stovetop and whisk cooked roux to combine. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until softened, about 10 minutes. It will seem quite dry.  Stir in garlic, thyme, and file, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and cook about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in 3 3/4 cups of the stock along with the vegan fish sauce until smooth.  Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer.
  4. FINISH GUMBO Stir okra into gumbo and simmer for about 20 minutes while rice cooks; reduce heat to medium if cooking too fast.  Meanwhile, place textured vegetable protein (TVP) in a medium bowl and pour remaining 2 cups of hot stock over.  Let sit for 5 to10 minutes or until TVP has softened.  Stir into gumbo and adjust seasoning if desired. Serve with a scoop of white rice and, possibly, biscuits or garlic bread.

DSCN0783

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Vegan Tuna “Fish” Salad with Secret “Boiled Egg” Ingredient

[Photo caveat: I apologize for the quality of this photo.  My trusty camera finally went on the fritz.  And, while I plan to replace it soon, I want to upgrade, but don’t want to spend the money just yet.  So, this photo was taken with my phone, which is a Droid rather than an iPhone, and I don’t believe the quality is as good as the latter.  However, before the summer is out, I plan to have a new camera!]

Okay, so it’s not exactly standard July 4 fare, but…cold and creamy, tuna fish salad (vegan of course) sounded so good to me on a recent hot and humid day that I decided to create a batch, holiday appropriate or not.  (BTW, does it amuse you like it does me that the weather reporters act like 90+ and a hundred degree weather in July is “news”?)

I had never tried a vegan version.  I do make a Vegan Clam Chowder that receives rave reviews, so I felt sure I could capture that briny taste…and I did (!) courtesy of some Dulce granules available in health food stores and, possibly upmarket grocery stores.  I buy it at our local Organic Depot.

But my mother always made tuna salad with chopped boiled egg and I wanted to try to capture that flavor as well.  My Vegan Egg Salad is tops in many folks’ (recipe) books so, I decided to add a little of the secret eggy ingredient: Indian black salt.  It has an aromatic sulfury taste that mimics that of cooked eggs perfectly.  You can buy it most affordably at Indian markets, but you can also order it online.

But what about the protein?  The only one I had in the house after a whole week away at TICA (what a beautiful honor and experience that was!) seemed oddly appropriate: chick peas, lightly mashed.

The rest was easy:  a little mayo, finely chopped celery, pickle relish and, for good measure, celery salt (though celery seed would substitute nicely).  Enjoy this salad as you would any tuna salad: on crackers; in a sandwich with toasted bread and some curly lettuce; stuffed inside a firm, ripe tomato as we do “down South;” as a lighter canape on cucumber slices; or as the ultimate indulgence: on fried green tomato slices as in the photo!  I garnished them with dab more mayo, a sliver of dill pickle (because I didn’t have sweet), and a tiny pinch of both Dulce granules and Indian black salt.

I simply couldn’t resist the tomatoes at the farmer’s market.  To fry them, just slice them about 1/4-1/3 of an inch thick, dredge them first in a little flour seasoned with salt and pepper, then in unsweetened soymilk seasoned with the same, and then back into the flour before sauteing a couple of minutes on each side in canola oil over medium-high heat.   Drain on paper towels.

2-15 ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup finely diced celery

4-5 tablespoons mayo (I like my own homemade mayo or Vegenaise the best, but can rarely find the latter, so Nayonaise is fine; it just has a stronger taste.  If you use milder Vegenaise, you may need slightly less Dulce granules.)

2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish (use dill pickle relish if you prefer)

1 tablespoon Dulce granules (see note above next to “mayo.”  Also, feel free to substitute Kelp granules, but you may need to adjust the amount.)

1/2 teaspoon Indian black salt or to taste

1/2 teaspoon celery salt or celery seed or to taste

In a medium bowl, coarsely mash the chick peas with a fork or a potato masher and sprinkle celery over the top.  In a small bowl, whisk together mayo and remaining ingredients.  Pour over pea and celery mixture and toss well to fully incorporate.  Check for seasoning and adjust if necessary.  Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though published a year ago, I hope my cookbook The Blooming Platter: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes will always be relevant with its emphasis on tasty, nutritious, beautiful, and seasonal vegan fare.  If you need a little gift for yourself or a friend/family member, you can obtain it simply by following the link. And thanks in advance !

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Print Friendly, PDF & Email