Since becoming vegan I have enjoyed trying recipes and experimenting. It’s been a fun process and has truly made this transition not so overwhelming. Thanks to Pinterest and Google, I’ve found some vegan alternatives to some of my favorite meals. One of my new obsessions is curried chickpea salad. I used to LOVE chicken salad and tuna salad, so I was eager to try this vegan alternative. The first time I made it was with leftovers. I made a chana masala (Indian) dish and I made too much. My husband gets tired of leftovers very quickly and I didn’t want my glorious chickpeas to go to waste, so I decided to turn it into the curried chickpea salad. Honestly the leftovers turned salad dish was the best I’ve made it thus far because it was so random and not planned, but when I made it again, I followed the recipe below.
Ingredients
3 cups cooked or 2 cans (15 oz.) of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1/2 – 1 cup of green onions (scallions), sliced
2 Tofurkey Italian sausages sliced OR 1/2 cup of chopped Beyond Meat grilled chicken (shown below)
1/2 cup pf finely chopped firm tofu
1/2 – 2/3 cup of vegan mayo
2-3 tablespoons of curry powder (to taste – I LOVE curry powder, so use as much/little as you’d like)
3/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, garlic powder and cumin (only because those are my staples)
sea salt & pepper to taste
Directions
(1) In a large bowl, combine chopped green onions, vegan mayo, curry, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and a generous pinch of salt. Blend until combined. Set aside.
(2) Chop Tofurkey Italian sausage or Beyond Meat grilled chicken and cook on medium heat in a pan until brown and slightly crispy.
(3) Press all of the water out of your tofu. Finely chop the tofu and pour it into your bowl with the ingredients from number 1.
(4) In a separate bowl, add chickpeas and roughly mash about 1/2 of the beans with the back of a sturdy fork or potato masher. Combine with the rest of the ingredients. Taste for flavor adding salt, pepper or any other seasonings as needed – it wouldn’t hurt to add a little more curry 🙂
(5) Optional – let your curried chickpea salad get cold in the fridge for a few hours or serve as is with crackers or made into a sandwich.
My husband and MIL enjoy this dish! Please let me know if you make it for yourself and/or your family. I’d love to hear how it turned out for you. And remember to have fun and be creative. You can check out Pinterest for other recipes similar to this or create your own. The possibilities are endless! 🙂
Until next time…
