Okara, okara...

For some time my soy milk of choice has been Westsoy Organic Unsweetened.  I like the flavor, and the fact that it has no additives.  However, they recently changed their packaging.  They now have an "easy open" spout.  Well, it is fairly easy to open—you twist the cap off and you're done—but it is not a spout that I care for.  If I try to pour slowly and carefully, the soy milk runs down the side of the carton.  If I try to pour less carefully, the soy milk glugs out and splashes all over the place.

Now, my locality does not offer recycling of these aseptic containers.  For that reason and others I've long been thinking that I should make my own soy milk.  The new Westsoy spout (also used by Pacific, another brand which I like) finally pushed me over the edge.  I bought some reusable glass bottles, some organic soybeans, and a Soyajoy G4 Soy Milk Maker.

A few days ago I made my first batch of soy milk.  It was surprisingly easy, and I am satisfied with the results.  There was one thing that I hadn't really thought about in advance, though: okara.

Okara is the soy pulp that is left over when you strain the soy milk.  It is apparently quite nutritious, with fiber and an amino acid profile that is even more optimal than the soy milk (or any tofu that might be made from the soy milk, for that matter).  But what, exactly, should I do with it?

Apparently one thing that you can do with it is dry it and grind it and use it to replace some of the flour in baked goods.  I'll probably try that at some point, but I wasn't ready for my first adventure in drying just yet.  I decided to try using it in some patties for sandwiches.

I mashed some garbanzos, then smooshed in the okara, some peanut butter, Bragg's Liquid Aminos, sesame and sunflower seeds, onion and garlic powder, fresh ground pepper, parsley and some Ozuké Kale & Collards Kimchi (which doesn't taste much like kimchi, to me, but is delicious).  I then formed this mixture into patties and baked them until I thought that they were "done".

The resulting patties tasted great, but were very crumbly.  The greatest care was required to transfer a couple intact from the baking sheet to a couple of toasted slices of bread for sandwiches.  None of the remaining four patties made it off of the pan in one piece.  (I plan to use them as a crumble over rice and vegetables.)

So, my first stab at doing something with okara was by no means a total loss, but I definitely need to work on finding a patty mixture with a better texture, and maybe try cooking them on a non-stick griddle rather than in the oven.

Update, 8/16/2015:  To date, my favorite thing to do with okara is mix a heaping spoonful of it into my morning porridge.  I've not yet had the time and patience to experiment with more burger recipes.  Maybe I'll try adding it to some sort of vegetarian loaf entree next....