Chickpea Salad Lettuce Wraps

Once again we venture into the world of ugly food. By that I mean - food that is ridiculously delicious but just isn't pretty to look at. 

Chickpeas struggle in the beauty department in general but mash them up and we are deep in ugly territory.  Deep. Deep. Deeeeeep.

Anyway... looks aside, this is one of my new favorite meals. 

It is filling, tasty, easy to put together, inexpensive to buy the ingredients, and is very healthy. 

According to Myfitnesspal, nutritional info for 1 serving (recipe makes 2 servings) it is:

287 calories, 41 carbs, 7 fat, 16 protein, and 10 fiber. 

True story. 

Trust me, eating half of this entire recipe will leave you feeling very full. 

Chickpea Salad Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

1 can (540 ml) chickpeas, rinsed well and drained

1/4 cup purple onion, finely diced (or regular onion)

1 med/large dill pickle, finely diced

1 stalk celery, finely diced

1 tsp dried dill

1/4 tsp turmeric

salt & pepper

3 Tbsp light mayo

approx 12 leaves Romaine lettuce

1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts

Directions

In a mixing bowl, mash the rinsed and drained chickpeas using either a potato masher or fork. It doesn't have to be completely smooth - leave a few chunky bits for texture. 

Stir in the onion, pickle, celery, dill, turmeric, salt & pepper, and mayo. Mix until well combined.

You can proceed now and finish making the wraps OR cover and chill until ready to use. Can be made a day or two ahead of time.

Prepare wraps - Place a generous spoonful or 2 in the center of each lettuce leaf and gently spread down the center with the back of a spoon. Top with a generous sprinkling of alfalfa sprouts.

Serve immediately. 

Depending on the size of your leaves - you will get more wraps with the inner leaves and less with the outer leaves. You can spread as much or as little on each leaf as you like. 

You can also add more onion or celery or pickles or mayo as you prefer - just keep in mind it will change the nutritional count. 

Oh, yes... I also found this tastier if the mixture has time to chill a bit (like at least an hour or so) but this is not necessary. I just find the chickpeas are better cold and the flavors have more time to blend. 

And... don't leave off the alfalfa sprouts. They make these wraps uber amazing.

I brought these to the office for lunch - perfect office lunch BTW.

And all my co-workers loved them. They reminded some of a tuna sandwich without the tuna-iness and others of an egg salad sandwich without the egg-iness. 

Tuna-iness.... Egg-iness...yeeeeaaaah, my co-workers make up words sometimes. 

Completely accurate descriptions though. 

 

We're sharing at these fun linky parties - Lou Lou Girls, Dizzy Busy & Hungry, Adventures of Mel, Cookin and Craftin,  Feeding Big