When having more okara soybean pulp than you can eat in a few days, dry it in the microwave, a frying pan or oven, and freeze for later use. When you sift the dried okara, you get a nice, low-fat, fiber-rich flour-like ingredient for baking and more. Although not as fine as packaged okara powder from store shelves, sifted okara works great in a number of recipes.
<Directions>
1.
Place okara in microwaveable container, and repeatedly microwave for a few minutes, removing and mixing while letting steam out several times
Cool completely.
2.
Sift, if desired (recommended for baking and use as flour substitute).
After the first round (top photo), coarser okara pieces can be ground for more sifting (I use a dedicated coffee mill).
<Notes>
- From 200 g dried soybeans, I get roughly 380 g okara, which weighs about 170-180 g when dried. Sifting dried okara with a 1mm-mesh strainer results in 130-140 g of finer okara and 30-40 g of coarser okara.
- If using a frying pan, put okara in pan and cook on low heat until dry, stirring often.
- If using oven, place okara in parchment paper-lined pan, and bake at 300-320 F/150-160 C until dry, for 30 minutes or so. Mix occasionally for even dryness.
- Dried coarse okara soybean pulp substitutes for panko bread crumbs. See Notes in the Kurumafu no katsu (gluten cake cutlets) recipe.
Recipes with kanso okara
- Kurumafu no katsu / gluten cake cutlets
- Koyadofu-iri seri to koebi no chijimi / jijigmae Korean savory pancake with freeze-dried tofu, water dropwort and bay shrimp
- Okara-konnyaku / soybean pulp yam cakes
- Satsumaimo no taruto / sweet potato tart
- Pootabera no piza pan / portabella pizza pastry
- Zukkini to tamago, feta chiizu no pan / zucchini, egg and feta cheese pastry
- Karifurawaa to masshuruumu no karee pan / curried cauliflower and mushroom pastry
- Piroshiki-fu pan no kiji / piroshki-style pastry dough
- Hakkuruberii no makaron taruto / huckleberry macaron tart
- Hakkuruberii no taruto / huckleberry tart
- Mekyabetsu to koebi no kisshu / quiche with brussels sprouts and bay shrimp
- Okara no taruto kurasuto / tart crust with soybean pulp
- Sakekasu okara pan / sake lees soy rolls
- Okara maccha keeki / soy matcha cake
(Last updated: August 2, 2019)
It's not traditional, but I use Okara in granola, to make crackers, and to make a fritter that is very much like the American southern "hush puppy," which is like a fritter that you would make from cornmeal pancake batter (which I mix cornmeal and okara to make). Also, I use it as a filler in American meatloaf, it gives a very interesting texture, but be sure to toast well first!
ReplyDeleteOkara crackers are something I like to experiment with with different seeds and grains. Crackers don't take much "gluten" to stick together, so you can make them with a little wheat flower, sesame seeds, and flours or meals like okara, millet, barley, and other "country" grains. Dry seasonings are great -- anything that you would put in rice ball seasoning or furikake or see in rice cracker mixes goes great!
But you always end up with so much okara if you make soymilk or tofu. So I have gotten very creative in using it. Otherwise, how can I call it o-kara? :)
Hi Shava,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great ideas! Always nice to learn how okara and other ingredients are used in different ways.
My recent hit with okara is bread (rolls) I made partly to use more sakekasu, which comes in a large bag and takes additional effort to finish up...