Okara is a delicious Japanese side dish. It's made from soybean pulp (leftover from making soy milk) that's simmered with onions, carrots, hijiki, aburaage, kamaboko (fishcake) and more. Simply seasoned with dashi, mirin, and soy sauce. Serve hot or cold, it's delicious any time of the day ^_^
Why This Recipe Works
Okara is a Japanese dish that is popular in Hawaii. It's a side dish and you'll find it served as part of many bento sets. It's also a great dish to prepare at home.
The flavors of okara have such a "home cooking" vibe to it. It is easy to prepare, super flavorful, and nourishing. On top of all that, it's also very flexible and forgiving.
You can double up on any vegetables that you have lots of, or skip any that you don't have. Adjust the seasonings to your flavor preferences.
Okara is made by taking soybean pulp (more on where to get this below), and then simmering it with a mixture of ingredients like onions, carrots, hijiki, aburaage, and kamaboko.
The whole mixture is seasoned with just soy sauce and mirin. You can also add sake if you have.
And that's it! Enjoy it hot (my preference), or cold, or even at room temperature. You can't go wrong ^_^
What Is Okara?
Okara is the main ingredient in this dish and it's not a super common so we're going to dig a little deeper here.
Okara is a byproduct of making soy milk.
Have you ever made soy milk at home? If not, give it a try! It's super neat to make your own fresh soy milk. After you soak, blend, and strain the soybeans, you're left with a big bag. The stuff in that bag is okara!
Okara refers to both:
- The uncooked soybean pulp (the stuff in the bag).
- The prepared recipe we're making today (the finished dish that's ready to eat).
That can get kind of confusing, so we usually refer to the uncooked soybean pulp as "uncooked okara." And we call the finished prepared dish, "okara."
Okara does not have a long shelf life. Fresh uncooked okara is good for 2-3 day in the refrigerator. If you don't plan to use it right away, freeze it. Okara freezes well.
Aside from making this okara dish, there are many other things you can do with uncooked okara. I've seen people make okara patties and even okara cookies.
Where To Buy Okara?
If you make fresh soy milk, you'll just have okara because it's the leftover stuff/pulp from making the soy milk.
If you want to buy okara, visit a Japanese market (most should have okara available). Or visit a fresh tofu factory. We're lucky to have Aloha Tofu Factory in Honolulu, and they always have fresh okara available.
Nowadays, okara sometimes seems like a cool or trendy ingredient. But did you know that for a long time, people used to just throw away uncooked okara or sell it for super duper cheap? Yes! Crazy to think that.
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Ucooked okara - We often have uncooked okara from making batches of fresh soy milk. If you want to buy okara, go to a Japanese market of a fresh tofu shop. In Hawaii, we can purchase uncooked okara from Aloha Tofu Factory.
- Hijiki - You can purchase hijiki dried from Japanese markets.
- Aburaage - We like to purchase aburaage from Aloha Tofu Factory. You can also find it in the refrigerated or frozen section of Japanese markets (always handy to keep a few packages of aburaage in the freezer).
- Onion, chopped
- Carrot, julienned
- Kamaboko (fishcake), julienned
- Dashi
- Mirin
- Sake (optional)
- Soy sauce
- Green onion, chopped
Step by Step Directions
Let's get cooking!
Prepare the okara.
In a small pan, add the uncooked okara and stir fry for 5 minutes on medium heat. The point of this step is not to brown the okara, but to gently toast and make it more dry. Remove from heat and set aside.
Rehydrate hijiki.
Do this by placing the hijiki in a small bowl. Cover with water and let sit for 10 minutes. Then drain and set aside.
Prepare the aburaage.
Place the aburaage in a bowl and cover it with hot water. The aburaage will float to the top, use chopsticks or spatula to keep it submerged for a minute. Then discard the water and let the aburaage cool. Once cool, chop it into thin strips.
Note: This step helps to remove excess oil from the aburaage.
Saute onions.
In a pot, saute the chopped onions over medium-high heat until the onions are nice and soft.
Add vegetables.
Then add the carrots, hijiki, and aburaage. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes until the carrots are soft.
Season and simmer.
Add the dashi, mirin, sake (optional), and soy sauce to the pot. Mix well, turn the heat to medium. Put the lid on the pot and cook for 5 minutes.
Add okara and simmer.
Remove the lid, stir in the okara and mix. The okara will start absorbing the liquid quickly. Turn the heat down to low. Put the lid back on the pot and cook another 5 minutes.
Add kamaboko and finish cooking.
Remove the lid. Add the sliced kamboko. Give it another stir so that everything is evenly mixed.
Eat and enjoy.
Slide the prepare okara into a serving bowl, top with green onions, and enjoy! I like it hot but it's good at all temperatures.
FAQs and Tips
2-3 days in the refrigerator, in a covered container.
You can microwave it, or heat it up in a small pan. Add a tiny bit of oil and stir fry over medium heat until warmed through.
Okara is served as a side dish, and we always eat it with rice plus another "main" dish. I love pairing it with dishes like Furikake Salmon and Rafute (Okinawan Shoyu Pork).
Though sometimes I just eat a giant bowl of okara solo and call that a meal ^_^
Make Hijiki Salad or Edamame and Hijiki Rice.
Make Kamaboko Dip, Ozoni (Japanese New Year Mochi Soup), Saimin, Somen Stuffed Aburage, Dry Mein, Fried Saimin, or Somen Salad!
Key thing to remember about this recipe is that the measurements and ingredients are very flexible. Do you have a little more or less uncooked okara? No problem! Want to use the whole block of kamaboko? Do it.
In addition to onion, carrots, hijiki, aburaage, and kamaboko, you can add many other things to this okara dish. Other popular ingredients include: dried shiitake mushrooms, konnyaku, and dried shrimp.
Okara Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Okara
Ingredients
- ½ pound uncooked okara
- 1 tablespoon hijiki
- 2 pieces aburaage
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 carrot, julienned
- ½ block kamaboko (fishcake), julienned
- 1 cup dashi
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon sake (optional)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 stalk green onion, chopped
Instructions
- In a small pan, add the okara and stir fry for 5 minutes on medium heat. The point of this step is not to brown the okara, but to gently toast and make it more dry. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Rehydrate hijiki. Do this by placing the hijiki in a small bowl. Cover with water and let sit for 10 minutes. Then drain and set aside.
- Prepare the aburaage by placing the aburaage in a bowl and covering it with hot water. The aburaage will float to the top, use chopsticks or spatula to keep it submerged for a minute. Then discard the water and let the aburaage cool. Once cool, chop it into thin strips. This step helps to remove excess oil from the aburaage.
- In a pot, saute the chopped onions over medium-high heat until the onions are nice and soft.
- Then add the carrots, hijiki, and aburaage. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes until the carrots are soft.
- Add the dashi, mirin, sake (optional), and soy sauce to the pot. Mix well, turn the heat to medium. Put the lid on the pot and cook for 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid, stir in the okara and mix. The okara will start absorbing the liquid quickly. Turn the heat down to low. Put the lid back on the pot and cook another 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid. Add the sliced kamboko. Give it another stir so that everything is evenly mixed.
- Slide the prepare okara into a serving bowl, top with green onions, and enjoy! I like it hot but it's good at all temperatures.
Notes
- For the dashi: make dashi from scratch or use instant dashi powder, which is what we usually use for this dish.
- Other popular add-ins for this dish include dried shiitake mushrooms (make sure to soak and rehydrate them first), konnyaku, and dried shrimp.
I am amazed that you eat okara. Okara is olden days food. My Mom was from Maui and her family made it all the time. That is how I was introduced to okara and came to like it. But I probably haven't had okara in maybe 30 years or so. Yup, I miss those old time foods.
Hi Alan - We make fresh soy milk at home and I don't like to waste anything so we end up making okara often! Love how flexible it is, we always add the vegetables we have on hand. I keep meaning to making okara patties and okara cookies...one day soon!
- Kathy
@Kathy, Good to not waste anything. Now I understand how a younger person like yourself came to make okara. Okara is actually good and healthy too! I also think it tastes good, but others might disagree with me. LOL!