Japan
Hanbagu
Juicy beef-and-pork patties on shiso with a ketchup-Worcestershire sauce
40 min·4 servings
okara
The moist, crumbly pulp left over from making soy milk and tofu. Mild, slightly nutty, with a fibrous texture.
Okara is what remains of soaked, ground soybeans once the soy milk has been pressed out, essentially the fibre and skins with some leftover protein and fat. Fresh, it is white to cream-coloured, moist and crumbly like fine curd cheese or damp breadcrumbs, and tastes very gently of soy with a slight nuttiness. Having little flavour of its own, it readily absorbs stock, soy sauce and fat, and its loose, juicy crumb is the whole point of dishes such as Japanese unohana. Fresh okara turns up occasionally in Asian shops with a chiller cabinet or directly from small tofu makers, often for very little; dried okara powder is sold in health food shops, organic stores and by mail order. Anyone making soy milk at home will have it as a by-product.
Substitute:
The closest option is dried okara powder rehydrated with water or stock; it ends up somewhat drier and finer than fresh. There is no real substitute from other ingredients: crumbled firm tofu turns out creamier and softer and lacks the loose, fibrous crumb that defines okara.
Used in · 1 recipe