Adventures in a "Mansion" Kitchen

Earlier last week I went to browse in the grocery store with my good friend Ann. Late at night lots of the pre-made food goes on sale and it's a good time to pick up delicious, but otherwise expensive, foods. Ann picked out a salad, and later while tasting we decided it was very strange and probably wouldn't buy it again. It looked like the picture below.

As usual, I had no idea what I was actually eating or what it was made out of. Strangely enough, the same salad appeared in my school lunch later in the week! It's been haunting me. But now, at last, I could figure out what it was. By looking at the kyuushoku menu I deduced that it's called "okara ni", or vegetables mixed in something called "okara". After some further internet research, I discovered this article about Okara, the byproduct of making soymilk from tofu. Basically, this is the fibrous part of the soy bean. Now that I realize how healthy it is I have a new appreciation for this salad. (It helps to know that it's not made from the intestines of small kittens. Or raw fish eggs.)

So today I set out on a mission to find okara in my grocery store and attempt to make okara infused bread. I used the recipe from the linked article, making a few adjustments for my own cupboard. They were cheap and easy to make, and taste like a mix between banana bread and corn bread.

Banana-Okara Muffins, adapted from Just Hungry's Recipe

• 1 cup dried okara
• 1/4 cup (50g, or 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown or raw sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk or soymilk
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 3 tsp tahini
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 cups all-purpose bamboo flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed

Directions: 

Pre-heat the oven to 175°C/250°F. Grease and flour a loaf pan. (I used muffin cups). 

Heat up a non-stick frying or sauté pan. Toast the okara, stirring frequently, until it's a golden brown in color. Let cool.

Mix together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and milk or soymilk, almond extract (I added tahini for NUTTY deliciousness) and lemon juice. Add the mashed bananas.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, mixing just until it's combined. Fold in the okara.

Put the batter into the loaf pan. Bash the loaf pan hard on your work surface - this settles the batter and gets rid of any large air pockets. Bake for about an hour, until it's toasty brown in color and a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean. (Because I used muffin cups I ended up cooking the muffins for about 12-15 minutes at 200 C.... but because my toaster oven is wonky I kind of make things up as I go, generally. Her directions are probably better.)

Take out of the loaf pan and let cool before slicing.

And there you have it!! The productivity that was my afternoon. This is probably not interesting to most people, but I was fascinated to be able to make something with ingredients scrounged from my local supermarkets. Truthfully, a lot of foods are more expensive here, but I bought the okara for 30 yen. It's an adventure to make things with completely new ingredients and to find new ways to enjoy my favorite foods (BREADonmonmon).