If you’ve gone vegan and miss classic egg dishes, this is for you! Chickpea deviled tomatoes have a surprisingly egg-like flavor and consistency.
Combining chickpeas, nutritional yeast, and vegan mayo, and a touch of curry, these beauties are rather addictive, so be prepared for them to disappear quickly! And unlike with deviled eggs, no need to worry about cholesterol.
Serve as a fun appetizer, a salad-like first course, or a brunch dish. I like to arrange them on a “nest” of simple coleslaw, though you can use lettuce, mixed greens, or nothing at all.
Plum (aka Roma) tomatoes have the most egg-like shape, and work well even if they’re not the most flavorful tomatoes in the world. Or, you can use any small round tomatoes, like Kumato, or a combination.
This recipe is enough to fill 12 to 16 tomato halves, depending on the size of the tomatoes, and each serving is 2 or 3 tomato halves.
Vegan Chickpea Deviled Tomatoes
Deviled tomatoes combine chickpeas, nutritional yeast, and vegan mayo to arrive at a fairly egg-like flavor and consistency.
Ingredients
- 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/3 cup vegan mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons yellow mustard, or more, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon curry powder, or more, to taste
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped scallion or chives
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (see Note)
- 8 to 10 ripe plum (Roma) tomatoes or other small firm tomatoes
- Paprika for topping
Instructions
- To make in a food processor: Combine the chickpeas, vegan mayo, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, mustard, and curry powder in a food processor. Pulse on and off until the mixture is finely chopped, but don’t puree—leave a little texture. Add the scallion through the feed tube and pulse on and off a few times to whirl into the mixture. Taste to add salt and pepper.
- To make without a food processor: Simply mash the chickpeas well in a bowl, and stir in the mayonnaise, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, mustard, curry powder, and scallion, then season with salt and pepper.
- Cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the seedy center with a spoon. You’ll be left with a neat shell (save what you’ve scooped out for another use, such as blending into a juice or sauce. Or if you don’t care for this seedy part of the tomato, simply discard.
- Stuff the tomatoes generously with the chickpea mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and serve on a platter.
Notes
Variations
- Add a teaspoon or two of pickle relish to the chickpea mixture.
- Serve on a bed of lettuce, mixed greens, or a simple slaw.
Note on salt: Use Indian black salt (kala namak; available in Indian groceries), which adds a distinctive egg-like flavor and aroma.
- Here are lots more vegan appetizers and breakfast & brunch recipes.
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