How to Make Okara Konjac

Okara konjac – a great vegan substitute for meat/seafood – is quite easy to make if you can get the ingredients!

For the previous two dishes (vegan shoyu ramen and quickest fail proof stir-fry), I used what’s called okara konjac. What is that??? I also had never heard of okara konjac until few months ago!

You may have encountered shirataki noodles at a store, which are konjac in a noodle form. Konjac is made with a Japanese yam called konjac and is known as a weight-loss saver because it has close to zero calories and contains a good amount of fiber.

Konjac has a very distinct elastic, hard-gel-like texture, which doesn’t get lost when boiled or heated. So, someone really smart came up with this idea of combining okara (soy pulp that’s leftover from making soy milk) with konjac, and the resulting product – okara konjac – has this interesting meat-like texture that’s resistant to heat.

I really like working with okara konjac, but unfortunately, it’s not readily available at a supermarket and is quite expensive. But good new is, it’s quite easy to make at home if you can get the ingredients!

What you need:

• Konjac kit …konjac powder 20g and calcium hydroxide (solidifier) 1g
• Warm water…400ml for konjac powder and 75ml for calcium hydroxide
• Tororo or ground nagaimo yam (freshly ground or tororo powder mixed with water)…1 tbsp
• Fresh okara…150g

First, combine konjac powder with warm water (400ml) and mix well with a wisk. The amount of konjac powder seems very little but this is fine since actually 75% of konjac is made out of water…

Combine calcium hydroxide, tororo and warm water. Add to konjac mixture.

Add okara. The mixture will start to solidify right away, so mix really quickly and well with a wisk until the texture is smooth.

It looks and feels like fish cake:)

Form into balls and cook in boiling water for 30 min.

Unlike store-bought okara konjac, freshly-made okara konjac doesn’t have the distinct fishy smell, so you can actually slice it up and eat it with wasabi and soy sauce like sashimi!

Fresh homemade okara konjac doesn’t contain any preservatives so it’s good for only few days, but you can freeze them!

When defrosted, okara konjac releases moisture, so squeeze the moisture out before cooking.

You can slice it and cook as a substitute for meat fillet, or I like to grind it (just pulse few times) in my blender to make “meat” balls.