In the beginning of the year I enrolled in a cooking school, sponsored by Forks Over Knives and taught at the Rouxbe Cooking School online. Oh what I learned. I sharpened my knife skills, learned how to roast and sauté without oil and even invested in a veggie steamer. I am pretty sure that Mr. Beet enjoyed the class as well since he was able to eat my homework.
I actually stopped eating canned tuna a few years ago when I learned that the major tuna companies have not been practicing the safest of catching techniques, and/or the tuna is processed in China and shipped over to the United States. I am a bigger fan of plant based salads anyway. Like this tuna-less tuna salad we made in class.
I used to be a huge fan of tuna growing up- especially mixed up with some relish and baked on a bun with some melted cheese. Yum. And then somehow through the years I have decided that I don’t like relish in tuna salad but like to add chickpeas. And then eventually I started to leave both the tuna and the pickles out of my “tuna” salad.
And then I found a recipe from Rouxbe- the one thing they add that I was intrigued by was seaweed flakes. Something I did not know even existed, but now I am hooked on using them in almost everything. From Chickpea “Tuna” Salad to Caeser Salad Dressing, I think I may be keeping the seaweed flake business in operation.
So I tweaked the recipe to my own liking, but of course however you fix your tuna- go for it. Add relish, or mustard, or use non-Vegan mayonnaise. Whatever floats your tuna boat- I hope you enjoy!!

Chickpea “Tuna” Salad
Based on the recipe from Rouxbe Cooking School.
Ingredients
- 3 cups canned chickpeas,, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoon finely minced red onion
- 2 medium celery stalks,, finely minced
- 2 tablespoon Nori Seaweed Flakes
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon stone ground or dijon mustard
- ½ cup vegan mayonnaise
Instructions
- Add the chickpeas into a medium sized bowl. Using a potato or avocado masher, gently mash the chickpeas. Do not overmash, leave the chickpeas slightly chunky.
- Fold the other ingredients into the chickpeas until combined.
- Serve immediately, on bread, crackers or over lettuce.
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Helen Corbin
Thursday 11th of August 2016
Sounds very interesting. I have tried many of your other recipes and they were great so I will trust you when you say this tastes like tuna salad :-)