Monday, October 25, 2010

Chickpeas Work, But Try a TEMPEH Salad Sandwich

Because most of my lunches consisted of American cheese & mayo sandwiches Inexplicably, tuna salad was a favorite as a kid, as was egg salad, although it was served far less frequently.  What do these things have in common?  Lots of celery (if done right).  I've purchased store-bought tofu salads of all kinds: tofu, "chicken", "egg"...but none of them have been filled sufficiently with the best part of the salad: the crunchy celery.  I've always meant to make a chickpea version but, although I've amassed quite a few recipes (mashed, whole, etc.), I've never actually done so.  Then, with a brand new jar of Vegannaise in the fridge, I recalled a recipe from a Natural Kitchen Cooking School class that used tempeh instead of chickpeas: tempeh "tuna" salad.  Guess who happened to have a coupon for Lightlife?

open-faced sandwiches are for suckers;
this was uncovered for photo only!
If you want to make a sandwich JUST LIKE MINE (who wouldn't?), do the following:

  • omit the celery seed (you don't have it)
  • use 2 tbsp of sweet relish in place of the dill pickles (cuz it's already chopped)
  • quadruple the chopped celery
  • substitute sweet white miso (because that's all you have)
  • Inexplicably ignore the directions to grate the tempeh first, and instead cook it in chunks-- only to have to wait for it to cool in order to smush it with a fork. (you're a dope)

Then garnish it with parsley because you have it leftover from another recipe to make your photo look super swanky because you're fancy like that and enjoy.

5 comments:

  1. Hey Abby, You could make the mayo yourself, and drop down the cost: http://sacredchow.blogspot.com/2010/06/soy-milk-mayo.html
    It's really easy to make, and tastes the same as the vegenaise.

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  2. Dino, I'm honored (and slightly embarrassed) that you've discovered my blog; I'm a horrible cook!

    Thanks for the recipe, although it's going to take me a while to get through my ginormous jar of the store-bought stuff.

    Now howzabout sharing the secret to the incomparable kale dressing? I'll never tell!

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  3. If you want a quick ready made "egg" salad sandwich with lots of celery, try Earthly Eat Spicy power tofu sandwich. I've reviewed them on my blog and you can usually find them at Lifethyme!

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  4. tuna sandwiches were the only thing I craved from childhood after I stopped eating meat... I've been doing the chickpea salad thing for years, and never thought of trying tempeh. Your photo looks great, so I'm definitely attempting this next time I have tempeh on hand! :)

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  5. Ali, sprinkle some vegan furikake in if you want the fishy taste without the fish. Most are not vegan, but I have this one: http://www.foodfightgrocery.com/food-1/condiments/ao-nori-goma-furikake

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