banana okara (soy pulp) muffins

Every Monday evening, our faithful tofu delivery lady, Horie San, drives by with her little truck and the not-so-little music that is piped through the neighborhood from the speaker on top of said truck. (She is one of the friendliest people on the planet.)

And if I spend 1,000 yen or more (or even if I get close to that), she gives me a 200-gram bag of soy pulp, called okara in Japanese.

Here's a recipe I found on Cookpad that helps me use up the okara, and we all love these moist muffins. I changed it a little, so here you go. This is doubled and has all my changes incorporated.

You'll need:

• 120 g butter, melted (I want to try coconut oil next time)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 200 g okara (soy pulp)
• 100 g maple syrup
• 175 g rice flour
• 25 g kinako (roasted soy flour)
• 4 small bananas, mashed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 100 ml soy milk (plus a little extra if too dry)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• raisins for the top

Do this:

Preheat your handy-dandy oven to 180 C. Whisk the butter, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla together, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Top with raisins and then bake about 20 minutes or so. 

I'm not a huge banana fan, but these were bananarrific and I'm going to make them again this week.

UPDATE: Even extra delicious with coconut oil instead of butter. Gives it a little island flair.