So, what is chuna? It is simply a recipe using chickpeas that tastes similar tuna. I never liked that ‘fishy’ taste as a whole but before I became vegan I did on the rare occasion have tuna on a jacket potato or in a sandwich. So I decided to recreate the taste using chickpeas and nori. The easiest way to get the sea taste is with nori, being seaweed it has the saltiness needed to replicate those ‘fishy’ notes.
Chickpeas work great in this recipe as they can mash well with a fork without becoming too mushy. I’m sure that if you didn’t have chickpeas, other beans should work, they may just alter the texture slightly. I like this recipe slightly chunky so mashing with a fork is my preference, but you could easily use a food processor to roughly chop up the chickpeas.. be careful though, for this recipe you don’t want to make houmous so go easy on the processing!
In my chuna I use tamari to keep it gluten free, if you don’t have tamari then use soy sauce it doesn’t alter the flavour at all so it’s all good!
As I mentioned above, this recipe is amazing in a jacket potato but I also love it in a sandwich with salad or even dolloped in a big bowl of pasta. I make my chuna using a little vinegar as that is what I used to mix with tuna, but you could use vegan mayo or salad cream. Your choice!
Ingredients
- 1 can (400g) chickpeas
- 2 nori sheets (shred fine, I used scissors)
- 5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp tamari/soy sauce
- Pepper to taste
Recipe
Drain chickpeas and tip them into a bowl. Smash the chickpeas with a fork until they are your desired consistency. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well to combine. Serve.
Herbivore in the Kitchen 