Not Tuna Salad for the plant-based world

If you are like me you have probably been hearing a lot lately about the benefits of eating seaweed.  Doesn't sound too appetizing, right?  As it just so happens that is a nice ingredient to turn chickpeas into a mock tuna salad.  Tuna was one of my favorite lunches before I read, "The China Study" and "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" and gave up meat within a couple of days.
Let me reiterate:  I ate meat for 47 years and then quit because the research impressed me so much regarding how much healthier I could be by not eating animal protein or added oils and fats.  There are going to be foods I miss and tuna has been high on the list of foods difficult to mimic.

Here is a way to get yourself back into the zen of a tuna lunch.

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced dill pickle
2 tablespoons Fuero Wakame Dried Seaweed
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons Walden Farms Miracle Mayo (probably contains soy--isn't clearly marked either way)
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons mustard
1 teaspoon vinegar or pickle juice
1/2 teaspoon Bragg Sea Kelp Delight Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon dill
pinch black pepper

1. Crush garbanzo beans with a potato masher, set aside.
2. Chop celery and dill pickle, add to beans.
3. Crush seaweed together with sunflower seeds in a mortar and pestle, add to beans.
4. Add remaining ingredients to bean mixture and stir.  
5. Serve rolled inside Nori Sheets, in a traditional sandwich or with crackers.

Dried seaweed and sunflower seeds

Dried Seaweed and sunflower seeds after grinding

Not Tuna Salad 

Not Tuna Salad Sushi Rolls