Chickpea Salad w/ Gim Mayo

A lunch time favorite gets a remodel with chickpeas and gim.

Chickpea Salad w/ Gim Mayo

Serves 6 - 8

This salad has a simple origin, I wanted tuna salad but didn’t have tuna. So I decided to give this lunchtime favorite a remodel. I remembered seeing a vegan chef on Instagram make “tuna” salad from chickpeas and chose to start there. The vegetable additions were easy because they were what I had on hand and mimicked what I would put in a normal tuna salad. But, I still wanted the salad to taste of the sea, ergo the gim in the mayo. It adds a roasted “taste” of the sea that lends lots of depth to the final salad. The result is a salad that is full of texture, creamy, and has lots of umami from the soy pickles and the gim.

I made sandwiches by filling pita with the salad, sukkat/chrysanthumum, perilla, tomato and avocado then served everything with a spicy carrot salad (recipe here). I’ve also made sandwiches the exact same way and served them with perilla pesto (recipe here) instead of perilla leaves.

“Recipe Tips:

*1. In place of the dried chickpeas, you can use (5 - 15 oz) cans drained and add 1.5 t gochujang to the dressing

**2. 1- Precut “snack pack” of roasted salted gim is about 4g.

***3. Add 1 t soy sauce to the salad if using bread and butter pickles.”

Ingredients

*Chickpeas

2,000ml (10 c) water

500g (3 c) dried chickpeas, soaked overnight

4g (2 in piece) dashima

6g (1.5 t) kosher salt

3 T gochujang 

Gim Mayo

160g (0.50 c) mayo

**8g roasted and salted gim

2 garlic cloves, ends trimmed

1 cheongyang or serrano chili - optional

1 T Tabasco

4 t yondu or soy sauce

0.25 t ground Sichuan or black pepper 

Dressing

1 T rice vinegar

4 t Dijon mustard

0.50 t kosher salt

0.25 t ground black pepper 

Mix-Ins

250g (1 large) red bell pepper, chopped

100g (4 - 5) scallions, chopped

***100g (0.50 c) jangajji (recipe here) or bread and butter pickles, chopped

Sandwich

6 – 8 Pitas

Sukkat/chrysanthemum leaves (in English)

Perilla leaves

Tomato, sliced

Avocado, sliced

Recipe Know-how

1.      In a large pot combine the chickpea ingredients.

• Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.

• Cook partially covered for 60 – 90 minutes or until tender.

• Allow to stand in the cooking liquid for 30 minutes covered before draining.

Allowing the chickpeas to stand in the liquid is optional.

• Drain and pour into a large mixing bowl.

• Using a potato masher, crush the chickpeas while warm until chunky but not mushy.

2.      In the bowl of a food processor, place the ingredients for the mayo.

• Blend until smooth and the gim is well chopped.

Scrape down the sides of the food processor as necessary.

• Taste and adjust adding more gim or garlic as desired. Set aside.

Salt will be added later.

3.      In a medium bowl add the dressing ingredients and mix well.

Finishing the dressing can also be done in the food processor.

• Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

4.      Into the chickpeas add the mix-ins and dressing.

• Mix well to coat everything.

• Taste and adjust seasoning.

Add 1 – 2 T extra mayo to reach the creaminess you desire.

• Cover and refrigerate the salad for at least 1 hour before serving.

5.      Make a sandwich and serve.