Pin It Salad That Never Swam


I've been meaning to make tuno salad with chickpeas for years. I first encountered it in the 1990s at the Sri Chinmoy bakery in Queens, NYC. Interesting sect of people...they sure make some great vegetarian food! Unfortunately, their mock tuna salad was made with real mayo, so I never got to try it. They have a couple of actual restaurants with some real tasty vegetarian food, so if you ever find yourself in Queens, I advise you try them! Oneness Fountain Heart is one...it's painted all blue...and it's yummy.


Here's my vegan version...really easy. Makes me wish I'd tried it much, much earlier. Next time, I'll try fresh chickpeas, though I suspect that "canned food" flavor is part of why it tastes so much like mom's tuna sammys from back in the day!

Mock Tuna Salad
1 can chickpeas
3 tbs vegan mayo
1 tbs sweet relish
2 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp dijion mustard
2 tsp lemon juice
2 stalks celery, chopped in small pieces
1 tbs red onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
fresh dill to taste
tiny pices of nori to (desired fishy) taste


Mash chickpeas a bit with potato masher. Add mayo and mash until a slightly chunky consistency.Stir in remaining ingredients. This recipe is quite personal and can be adjusted any way you want in order to resemble the tuna you remember. Add bits of carrot, scallions, raisins...whatever!

Pin It Orjeg -gy Goodness!

No, that's not a typo. It's just how my just-turned-two-year-old says "orange." I had a hankering for an orange muffin, and I did something about it, dammit! Also I've committed to making more baked goods with ground flax seeds in order to get all that goodness into my little guy's diet. Unfortunately, even though he was excited about "chocolate cake!" -- he licked all the icing off and left me the soggy, drooley cake, lignans and all. Yeah, thanks, kid.

This was loosely based on Angelica Kitchen cookbook recipe for orange and poppyseed layer cake. If you're ever in NYC and haven't been, you must RUN NOT WALK to Angelica's Kitchen in the east village immediately. It is the mecca of vegan food as far as I'm concerned: it was where I first tried tempeh in 1994, and undoubtedly was a major influence in my vegan conversion that year. You leave this restaurant on a high from its fresh, local ingredients, and consciously prepared food.

In 1999 or 2000, they published a cookbook, and I stalked the restaurant until it finally was available (it was delayed for a bit). It was expensive for a poor schmo like me, but I would've paid a lot more. Now, although armed with their secret recipes, it's difficult to convert my kitchen to Angelica's. They use some pretty hard-to-find and expensive ingredients, and everything is so labor-intensive and time consuming.

But when I can, mmmm boy. It's like I'm on East 12th street all over again.

Orange Muffin/Cupcakes With Frosting
(Adapted from The Angelica Home Kitchen by Leslie McEachern p.260)
4 cups unbleached flour
1 tbs plus 1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
4 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup light olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs orange zest
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tbs ground flax seeds mixed with 2 tbs water
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line cupcake pans. Wisk wet ingredients together in small bowl. Wisk dry ingredients in large bowl. Add wet to dry, and mix to form a batter. Do not overmix. Fill muffin cups halfway. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Frosting
1/4 cup earth balance
2 cups vegan powdered sugar
2 tbs orange juice

Get earth balance nice and fluffy in a mixer. Add sugar and OJ until desired consistency.
When muffins are cool, ice them. Let sit a while for best flava.