Chickpea "Chicken" Salad: recipe, from scratch

I've been experimenting with different vegetarian tuna salads, and finally found one that has the husband's seal of approval!  He says it is definitely not a "tuna" salad, but extremely similar to a "chicken" salad.  I would agree.

The Bean Prep

If you are trying to use up 25 pounds of dried garbanzo beans like I am...

The night before:

• Measure out 1.5 cups of dried chickpeas.
• Add at least 4 cups of water.
• Let soak overnight.

The day of:

• Drain and rinse beans.  You should have almost 4 cups of rehydrated beans.
• Boil beans in fresh water for about 20 minutes.  Let cool.

Alternatively, you can leave them raw, but I'd soak them for 24 hours, changing the water every few hours... this makes for a crunchier salad.  Or you can just get 'em canned. 


The Salad Recipe

• ~ 4 cups of chickpeas... rehydrated and cooked, or the equivalent canned.
• 3 stalks celery, chopped fine
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup relish
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (full-fat, otherwise it's bleh!)
• 2.5 T brown mustard
• a healthy sprinkling of cayenne pepper, to taste

Directions:  Mash the beans only halfway with a potato masher, you still want some chunky texture (sometimes the skins separate, just stir them back in).  Mix very well with the rest of the ingredients.  If you let it sit in the fridge overnight, the last of the dryness of the beans disappears... but this makes 4 cups so you're pretty guaranteed to have leftovers.  Serve on bread with a bed of romaine lettuce for extra crunch.

Mmmmm.  Just wanted to share the results of many many batches of chickpea salads!  It's far more simple than the other mixes I've tried, but somehow simple was better in this situation.  There's a curry version with carrots and raisins coming up, but it is not yet perfected.