Vegan Egg Salad

Lately I’ve been learning a lot about different kinds of salt and how they affect the taste and, in this case, smell of food. Himalayan black salt, kala namak, is very unique and used quite frequently in the Asian cuisine. Sulfur compounds give this salt an egg-like smell and taste, which I put to the test with this egg salad recipe. First time I ever used kala namak, and I have to say: had I not made it myself, I’d find it hard to believe that there were no eggs involved.

You will need:

• a high speed blender

Ingredients:

• 9 oz (255 g) larger pasta like Rigatoni (optionally gluten free)
• 1/2 medium size sweet onion, finely diced
• 2 sticks celery, finely diced
• 1-2 Tbsp capers
• 2 pickles, diced (I used “Kühne barrel pickles”)
• 2 Tbsp minced parsley, and some more to sprinkle on top
• 1/2  tsp Himalayan black salt (kala namak)
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Dressing:

• 1 cup raw, unsalted cashews, soaked overnight or for a couple hours, drained
• 1 cup (240 ml) filtered water
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3.5 oz (100 g) cooked chickpeas
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1/2 lemon, peeled
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 2 tsp yellow mustard
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric

Preparation:

Remember to soak cashews.

Follow instructions on package to cook your pasta, this time on the softer side, not al dente, and without salt. Drain in a colander and rinse well with cold water. Once cooled down, chop the pasta into small pieces (you can even carefully use a hand blender, if you prefer a finer “egg” texture) and transfer to a medium size bowl.

Cut the vegetables and pickles. Add diced onion, celery, pickles, capers, and parsley to the bowl with the pasta.

For the dressing, put all the dressing ingredients into your high speed blender, and blend on highest speed until very smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.

Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients, add kala manak, and mix well. Season to taste with black pepper and maybe some more kala manak. Sprinkle more parsley on top and enjoy!

Notes:

• Instead of parsley, you could also use chives.
• Perfect in an egg salad sandwich or as an addition to a salad buffet.
• Personally, I would not use bread and butter pickles in this recipe, because they are too sweet.