Chickpea Salad Sandwich & the Best Gluten Free Vegan Bread EVER!! For Realsies!

Whilst at VegFest in Brighton I tried a lovely vegan pesto by Free From Italy on a tiny piece of bread roll, which I was told was gluten free.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"What make is it?"
"I'l get the packet. Here."
"It's definitely gluten free?!"
"Yes."
"Really?!"
"Yes!"
"It can't be...let me look them up..."
"It is!"

It turns out that somewhere oop north theres a gluten free bakery that makes entirely vegan bread products that actually taste like real life bonafide bread! As actual bread! You don't even have to toast it or anything! It's a gluten free, vegan miracle!

Anyway, after tasting that tiny fragment of perfect roll, I went straight over to Just: Gluten Free Bakery's website and ordered one of everything.
Not joking. It arrived today, see:

There are only two adults in my house.

Therefore, I declare the following week or so In Bread Week. If I'm eating something, it will probably be stuffed, spread or rammed between delicious, perfectly baked bready goodness. Oh yes. It's going to be a good week.

To start, I thought I'd do a version of a popular vegan sandwich filling which is generally hailed to be a alternative to tuna mayo.

The texture was definitely a good replication, but rather unsurprisingly it doesn't really taste entirely like I remember tuna. I've never tasted a chickpea version of this before, but I've seen plum vinegar and celery used in a fair few recipes. I'm not a big fan of raw celery and didn't have any plum vinegar, so I excluded the celery and used lychee wine instead- obvs. I also passionately dislike the vegan mayo I currently have in, so substituted it for avocado. 

I really like this take, it most certainly hits the right taste receptors and I'll definitely be doing it again- especially now I know I can get some proper blooming bread!

I'll add more seaweed when I repeat this though, as for my preferences, I think it could definitely do with more of a "sea" taste. Also, serving it with English mustard & cucumber was important to me, as that's how I used to do tuna sandwiches in my previous life. It really is a decent substitution.

Give it a go, it's well bloody easy! Plus it's filling, it's tasty, it uses "proper" ingredients and it goes a lot further than tuna mayo ever did!

Uh-oh. I just felt the reignition of my teenage bread addiction...

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

serves 2-4

for the chickpea salad
1 tin of chickpeas, drained (save that aquafaba, baby!)
1 tbsp lychee wine
1/2 red onion
1 small avocado, peeled & stone removed
1 large gherkin
salt & pepper
big pinch of dried seaweed
juice of 1/2 lemon

to serve
good white bread
Pure sunflower spread
English mustard
gherkin, sliced
tomato, slice
cucumber, sliced

1. In a blender blitz the red onion, gherkin and seaweed.
2. Add in the avocado, chickpeas, lychee wine, lemon juice and salt & pepper. Blitz again until desired texture is reached.
3. Taste. Add extra lemon or seasoning if necessary.
4. Throw onto your sandwich bread with salad, spread and mustard.
5. Gobble it down like you've not eaten a sandwich in at least 6 years.
6. Marvel at the fact that it taste likes a real life sandwich.
7. A REAL SANDWICH.
8. God, it's been so long...
9. Sod it. I'm having another one.

IT'S BREAD!

REAL BREAD!!!