chickpea sandwich filling

Drain the contents of
one 15-oz. can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
and mash them in a bowl with a fork, potato masher, or other mashing implement.

To this bowl, add
1/2 cup okara
one carrot, grated (about 2.5 oz.)
1 scallion, sliced
half bell pepper, diced (about 2 oz.) or one celery rib, sliced
3 Tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
2 tsp. relish
2 tsp. yellow mustard
salt, to taste
and mix contents thoroughly.

You can eat this as a salad, on bread, or inside of a pita pocket, as pictured above. This made five pita sandwiches for me (half a piece of pita bread per sandwich) -- your mileage could vary depending on how much filling you put in each pita pocket.

oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies

Update: I came up with a different oatmeal/okara cookie recipe that I think is much better than this one.



In a bowl, mix together
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 quick-cooking oats
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. espresso powder
and mix until well incorporated.



In another bowl, whisk together
2/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup okara
and emulsify.



Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir together thoroughly. The dough will seem sticky and wet. Refrigerate cookie dough for 15 minutes -- this will allow the oats to absorb some of the liquid, resulting in a firmer dough.

Drop cookies onto a lightly oiled cookie sheet by the Tablespoonful. Flatten down with a fork or your finger tips.



Bake for 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 13 minutes. Let cool off on pan for a few minutes before transferring cookies to a wire cooling rack. This recipe makes about three dozen cookies.



Verdict: I really liked the flavor of these cookies. The espresso powder gave it a nice dimension, but I might not have noticed its flavor if I didn't know it was there. If you want something that is more overtly coffee-flavored you'll probably want to increase the amount of espresso powder. Although I liked the flavor, I thought the cookies were a little bready. They didn't quite have that cookie feel.

double-chocolate macaroons

Whisk together
1/2 cup okara
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. coconut extract



Add
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
and whisk until ingredients are well incorporated.



With a spoon, stir in
1 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut



Spray a cookie sheet with vegetable spray and drop cookie dough onto it by the Tablespoonful. Don't press the cookies down; leave them rounded.



Bake cookies for 14 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow to cool for five minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.



When cookies are cool, melt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
over low heat.



Dip the bottom of the cookies into the melted chocolate, twisting around to ensure they are covered. Place onto a piece of wax paper or parchment paper on top of a plate or cutting board. Chill the chocolate-dipped cookies in the refrigerator until the chocolate has hardened. I left the room for 50 minutes, and when I came back they were ready -- but they could have been done before that.



If you're like me and you have a busted air conditioner, these might melt between your fingertips immediately after removing them from the fridge. But if you're one of the lucky people whose house isn't 85 degrees at 2 o'clock in the morning, these probably won't be quite as messy. Nevertheless, it probably goes without saying that these should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge, especially during summertime.

chocolate-cherry okara cake

I love chocolate and fruit combinations, and chocolate-cherry is underutilized if you ask me. Here we have a low-fat and moist tube cake with hints of cherry that you could probably amplify by garnishing with fresh cherries. This recipe is adapted from the chocolate cupcake recipe in Bryanna Clark Grogan's The (Almost) No Fat Cookbook -- which means that you could probably adapt this back to cupcake format for chocolate okara cupcakes, if you're one of those people. Cooking time would probably have to be reduced to 20-25 minutes for cupcakes, but I haven't tested that out personally.



In a bowl, combine
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
and stir until ingredients are incorporated.

In another bowl, mix
8 oz. okara
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup cherry juice
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
and stir until there are no lumps.



Place the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.

Scrape all of the batter into a lightly oiled 8-inch tube pan and spread evenly.



Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Warning: When I cook this, the batter usually overflows the pan a bit during baking. Put something underneath the pan that will protect your oven, but try not to impede air flow especially if using a convection setting.


Above: A very ugly cake! Don't worry, it looks nicer when it's removed from the pan.

Remove cake from pan, turning it onto a flat surface (like the bottom of a cake holder). I had to cut away parts of the cake that had flowed over the edge of the pan, and then I carefully ran a knife around the edges. After doing that, it fell from the pan pretty easily.



At this point, let the cake cool while you make a ganache frosting.

Over low heat, melt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup cherry juice
and stir until lumps have disappeared and the mixture is smooth and shiny. Pour over the cake very carefully, allowing it to drip down the sides. You'll probably have more than enough frosting -- use the leftovers to dip fruit in! Yum.

Allow the frosting to cool (in the fridge if desired), then cut into pieces and enjoy.

blueberry-okara muffins

Update: I've since come up with a newer okara blueberry muffin recipe that I think is much better than this one. Check it out!

Half a pound of okara and a dash of corn meal -- these muffins are a pretty good complement to the rest of your breakfast. My favorite blueberry muffin recipe is still the one in Vegan With a Vengeance (I even aped the inclusion of corn meal in my own recipe), but when I have a pile of okara to use up, this will do fine.



In a small bowl, combine
1 1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup corn meal (finely ground)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

In a larger bowl, combine
8 oz. okara
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy milk
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
and stir thoroughly.



Add most of the flour mixture from the first bowl, reserving about 1/4 cup. Combine the flour mixture with the wet ingredients.

Put
1 cup blueberries
into the first bowl with the reserved flour mixture and combine until the berries are coated in flour.

Note: I like to use frozen wild blueberries, which are smaller than most blueberries sold in grocery stores and thus ideal for muffins. I buy mine from Trader Joe's.



Put the flour-coated blueberries and the rest of the flour mixture into the bowl with the rest of the wet ingredients. Combine until just mixed.

Fill the cups of a lightly oiled 12-muffin tin with the batter. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.

okara-banana brownies

Let's try to wrest this blog out of the slight stagnancy I have let it fall into -- and let's do that with a fantastic chocolate dessert recipe. There's a ton of sugar in these, but you can pretend it's healthy with the addition of okara, banana, and pecans, with only a smidgen of oil.



In a small cup, combine
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 ounces very ripe banana (about one half of a large banana), broken into small chunks
and stir with a fork, breaking the banana into the smallest chunks you can. I guess you could do this in a blender, but it's fine not to liquefy it completely, and who wants to clean a blender out after such a small job?

Pour the contents of this cup into a bowl along with
5 1/2 oz. okara
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup almond milk
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
and whisk vigorously.



To this bowl, add
1 1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
and stir with a spoon until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the batter.

Add
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
and stir into the batter.



Pour batter into an oiled 8"x8" glass pan and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool (for at least 20 minutes), and cut into slices of your desired size.



Verdict: I thought these were great. Even though there were only two measly ounces of banana in the batter, its taste was discernible without being overpowering. This would be great served à la mode, maybe with some sliced banana and chocolate syrup.