Chickpea Quinoa Mock Tuna Salad

Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Servings: 6
Yield: 6 servings

Description

Take meat out of tuna salad and replace it with quinoa, sunflower seeds, and cabbage among other items for a tasty, vegetarian alternative.

Ingredients

1 cup water
1/2 cup quinoa
1 (19 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 rib celery, roughly chopped
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup shredded cabbage
1/4 onion, chopped
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons honey Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon dried kelp flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1 Bring water and quinoa to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender and water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Fluff quinoa with a fork and refrigerate until cold.
2 Combine chickpeas, carrot, celery, sunflower seeds, cabbage, and onion in a food processor and pulse until everything is roughly equal in size; transfer to a large bowl.
3 Stir quinoa, almonds, and raisins into the chickpea mixture; add mayonnaise, mustard, kelp flakes, relish, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir the mixture until evenly seasoned.