Since I started making my own tofu, I’ve struggled with the okara issue. If you recall, okara is the pulp left over after you’ve made soy milk. I’ve tried using okara as a base for salad dressing, to make crackers, and even to make vegan chicken nuggets.

All left something to be desired.

Yet I balked at the idea of simply throwing the okara away because of its health benefits: okara contains calcium, iron, niacin, riboflavin and thiamine; it’s also an excellent source of fibre.

And since I’m loath to throw it away, my tendency has been to save it in little Tupperware containers in the fridge until it starts to turn and then I just bin it.

Well, today I’ve discovered a use for all that super healthy okara, and I’m going to share it with you: Okara makes amazing tortillas!!!

I came up with the idea when I was perfecting my sweet potato tortillas and realized the texture of okara is not dissimilar to blended sweet potato.

So I gave the tortillas a try this morning and was surprised at how brilliantly they turned out. Here’s the recipe and method!

Okara Tortillas

• 2 cups okara
• 2.25 cups flour (I used whole wheat, but next time I’ll try a combo of sprouted whole wheat and sprouted spelt flours)
• 1 tsp salt

Mix together with a stand mixer until the dough forms a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, form a log, and let rest for twenty minutes or so:

Divide into ten three-ounce balls:

Roll out the balls into desired thickness (I like mine as thin as possible):

Heat up on a hot grill, turning every thirty seconds or so until the tortilla puffs up and becomes nicely browned:

And do make sure you don’t add too much sprouted flour: they’ll still taste good, but they won’t roll out as thin and the edges will be a bit cracked and crazy looking: 

In general, they are a tiny bit stiffer than the sweet potato wraps, but they are absolutely delicious! The slight stiffness (which I suspect could be alleviated with a TBS of oil to the dough) makes a very nice roti to go with African peanut stew and rice.

The tortillas do wrap very nicely though, and they don’t taste too doughy at ALL! They are at least as good as the sweet potato tortillas, so I will be making these suckers on the regular!!

Each tortilla (and they are BIG) contains 111 calories:

Okara (94/cup x 2) = 188

Whole-wheat flour (408/cup x 2.25) = 918

Total: 1106 divided by 10 = 110.6 each

A commercial 10-inch tortilla contains 230 calories, so these are less than half!!

And…to finish things off, I thought I’d brag about all the things I was able to make from a mere cup of humble soybeans:

1. soymilk
2. tofu
3. okara tortillas
4. salad dressing

And here’s a close-up of my homemade tofu marinating in some of my universal marinade:

And the song of the day is Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins singing “Happy” because I like playing something I can sing along to while I’m cooking and James said my usual– Patsy Cline–was making him feel morose (it’s all those hurtin’ songs). As a result, I had to find another artist who sings in the same pitch I do (or in the same pitch I fancy I sing–I likely have no pitch whatsoever):