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Every week I bake a wonderful sandwich bread. In fact, my husband and I eat bread of one kind or another daily and we both enjoy making different kinds. Bread isn’t the enemy, guys! The flour I use is grown and milled locally with all of the whole grain goodness intact. I use a blend of different flours, some of which are heirloom varieties. You can taste the difference. So doesn’t this deserve a great filling? Just try my Chickpea Sandwich Smush. You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy it.

Not all of the breads we make are on my blog, but many wonderful options are here and can be found using the search function. But you don’t have to bake your own bread to enjoy this wonderful sandwich filling. Pack it on your next picnic or just for a great weekday lunch. With plenty of plant protein to keep you going all afternoon and with nothing to weigh you down. No mid-afternoon slump here.

Normally, my husband uses cold cuts in his sandwiches, but he has been trying to wean himself from this. So after doing some Googling, I came across “No-Tuna” salads. Most of the recipes were pretty similar, utilizing the delicious and nutritious chickpea in place of the tuna. Personally, I am not calling my version “No-Tuna.” Tuna is tuna and this isn’t it. I think that people are often turned off by vegan recipes that purport to taste “just like meat/fish/chicken.”

Let’s just enjoy these dishes for themselves. And while it is true that there are increasingly great meat substitutes available, sometimes a veggie burger is just a great veggie burger. This recipe is a great Chickpea Sandwich Smush. It is, of course, adaptable to your personal tastes and ingredients on hand, but below is one perfect version. Works great on whole grain sandwich bread, in a wrap or just as a salad and will hold up for 4 to 5 days in the fridge.

This sandwich filling has everything going for it. Great texture, brininess, umami, satisfying and riffable. Each element that I include adds brightness, texture and flavor. Generally I like to cook up my own chickpeas, but for this to work, they need to be very smushable so may cook a bit longer than usual. Canned work well here, but find a brand that you like, preferably one without lots of the skins left on the chickpeas.

Recipe

Servings: Enough for 4 sandwiches

Ingredients

1 15 oz. can of chickpeas (preferably organic), rinsed, drained and with the excess skin shells removed

3 Tablespoons tahini (Use a really good quality brand like Soom or Seed and Mill, both of which are readily available in the US and online)

1 rounded Tablespoon of plain yogurt – plant-based or dairy

2 teaspoons of Dijon or spicy brown mustard

1 Tablespoon of Agave nectar or maple syrup

Juice of half of a lemon (About 2 Tablespoons)

1/4 cup finely diced red onion or shallot

1/4 cup diced celery

1/4 cup garlic dilled pickle, although sweet gherkins could also be good.

1.5 teaspoons capers, drained and coarsely chopped

2 Tablespoons chopped, fresh cilantro or flat-leafed parsley

1 Tablespoon finely chopped preserved lemon rind that has been lightly rinsed of excess salt

1/4 teaspoon ground sumac

1 Tablespoon pan-roasted unsalted sunflower seeds

kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Directions

Place the drained, rinsed chickpeas, with skins removed in a mixing bowl. Using a potato masher or fork, smush most but not all chickpeas. (You want some texture, but you also want to be able to spread this on bread.)

Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix through. Then spread it on bread and add your favorite toppings. We like it with baby spinach or other greens and some beet chips, lightly crunched on top. Let me know how you like to eat this in the comments below!