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Close up of a halved shishito pepper chickpea salad sandwich layered with lettuce, the chickpea filling, more shishito peppers, cilantro and scallions, served on a white plate.

Blistered Shishito Pepper Chickpea Salad Sandwich

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  • Author: Catherine Perez
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 3 sandwiches 1x
  • Category: Sandwich
  • Method: Stove Top
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan

Description

This Blistered Shishito Pepper Chickpea Salad Sandwich is the perfect balance of savory, tangy, and sweet. Perfect for meal prep and easy to make using simple ingredients.


Ingredients

Scale

For the filling

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 8 oz shishito peppers, stems removed
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 large shallot, sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp of the brine from a jar of capers
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp agave syrup
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 lime
  • 1/4 cup ice cold water or more as need
  • 1, 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 3 scallions, thinly sliced
  • 1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves, minced
  • 1 tbsp capers, minced

For assembling

  • 6 slices of toasted whole grain bread
  • Lettuce
  • 3 scallions
  • 1/4 cup cilantro


Instructions

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add the shishito peppers and spread them out in the pan. Cook undisturbed for 2–3 minutes, until the peppers begin to blister. Flip them, season with a pinch of salt, and cook for another 2–3 minutes. Transfer the peppers to a plate and set aside.
  2. In the same pan, add the remaining oil, shallots, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Sauté for 4–5 minutes, or until the shallots begin to turn golden brown around the edges.
  3. Transfer the shallots, garlic, and any oil left in the pan to a large glass measuring cup or blender. Add the tahini, vinegar, caper brine, mustard, syrup, nutritional yeast, the zest of 1 lime, the juice of half a lime, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the cold water. Blend until smooth. If the mixture is too thick or difficult to blend, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time, blending until the desired consistency is reached.
  4. To a large mixing bowl, add the chickpeas and use a fork to mash them into a flaky consistency. I like to mash at least 2/3 or more of the chickpeas, but feel free to adjust the consistency to your preference. Taste the dressing and adjust the salt, sweetness, or acidity as needed.
  5. Dice up half of the peppers then add them to the bowl of chickpeas along with the scallions, cilantro, and capers. Pour in about half the tahini sauce then fold everything together until combined.
  6. To assemble your sandwich, spread some tahini sauce over each slice of toasted bread. Layer one slice with some lettuce, a few scoops of your chickpea mixture, a few of the leftover shishito peppers, and additional cilantro and scallions. Top with the other slice of bread, cut in half, and enjoy!


Notes

How to simplify. Save time by using jarred roasted red bell peppers instead of cooking the shishito peppers. To skip the cooking step all together, blend the tahini sauce with 1 clove of grated garlic and 1-2 chopped scallion to replace the sautéed garlic and shallots.

Adjust the amount of sauce used. I start by adding about half the sauce to the chickpea mixture. If the mixture is too dry, feel free to stir in more.

Add more protein. Fold in hemp hearts and/or more nutritional yeast into the chickpea salad. For reference, 3 tbsp of hemp hearts adds 10g of protein, and 2 tbsp of nutritional yeast adds about 6g of protein to the whole dish.