I’m not a huge fan of foods that replace other foods: cauliflower pizza crust, zucchini noodles, vegan cheese. I do generally avoid pizza crust, noodles, and (sadly) cheese, given the fact that I eat about 90 percent paleo, but I feel like the work required to make alternative versions never really makes up for the fact that you don’t have the original. I’d rather just eat something else.
I’ve been known to make stand-ins – for example serving meatballs over roasted eggplant instead of noodles of any kind – but I don’t make the eggplant look like pasta, just because, well, it’s not.
I might need to eat my words.
As part of my day job, I test cookbooks, predominantly cookbooks that highlight a plant-based or sustainable way of eating. One recent book I tried was The Accidental Paleo, a book that combines elements of both plant-based and paleo ways of eating. In reality, this is pretty much how I eat (also dubbed a “Pegan” diet by Dr. Mark Hyman): mostly plants, but a little bit of high-quality grass-fed meat and more pastured eggs than is probably normal. But this book also featured a recipe for vegan “tuna” salad, and for some reason, I was drawn to it: it wasn’t too complicated to make, and it featured a lot of ingredients than I already have at home. Plus, I love tuna salad, and I find it difficult – yet necessary – to stay away from it for reasons of sustainability.
This recipe is made with a combination of chickpeas and soaked raw nuts, along with the add-ins you’d typically find in tuna salad: celery, red onion, a touch of parsley. It also uses turmeric to achieve a slightly golden color.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect; after all, there’s no fish in this, so it couldn’t possibly fulfill my tuna cravings… could it?
I’m still not sure of the answer, but here’s what I do know: I loved it. It reminded me a lot of this tuna salad recipe, which I used to make a lot in college. And though the author of the book noted that you could mix this salad with mayonnaise – and I had bought an organic, clean mayonnaise for that very purpose – I ended up finishing the whole thing without even opening the jar.
Plant-Based Tuna Salad (Recipe care of The Accidental Paleo)
1/2 cup almonds, raw, soaked for 4 hours
1/2 cup cashews, raw, soaked for 4 hours
1 15-ounce can chickpeas
1/2 red onion, small diced
1 celery stalk, small diced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
juice of 1 lemon
handful of parsley, roughly chopped
Pulse the nuts in a food processor for about 5 to 10 seconds, just enough to break them up. Add the chickpeas and pulse again for 5 seconds to break up the chickpeas. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until chunky but combined (another 5 to 10 seconds). Note: My food processor is an old one, and I found it took me a few seconds longer to get the right texture.