Plastic Free Proteins: TVP From Dehydrated Okara

When I started making my own soy and nut milk last winter, I was at a loss for what to do with the soy pulp I ended up with. I searched the internet for ideas, and didn't really find anything inspiring. At that time I just switched to making almond milk instead of soy. At least almond pulp is still almonds and therefore delicious.

Soy milk and left over Okara

That was before I discovered 'Okara' the Japanese name for the left over pulp from making soy milk. The internet is definitely filled with many suggestions for what to do with okara.

 TVP From Dehydrated Okara

To get okara, first make some soy milk and don't throw away the pulp when you're done.

It turns out that one way to make TVP is to simply dehydrate okara. This can be done easily if you have a food dehydrator, but is also possible in an oven. Not having a food dehydrator I just used a conventional oven.

Okara

Menu

Okara

Parchment Paper

Baking Sheet

Set your oven to it's lowest setting. Mine went down to 170F, but I'm told it will work as high as 200F. Make sure this is a day you want to hang around the house because it will take about 4 hours to dehydrate the okara. Spread some parchment paper on a tray and evenly spread out the okara. Pop it in the oven, and stick a dish towel in the oven door to keep it cracked. This will allow moisture to escape and keep it from getting too hot in there.

Okara on Baking Sheet

Check on on the TVP every hour or so. Some of the granules will chunk together, I like to keep an eye on those. All and all it's pretty self tending, and about 4 hours later you should have a good home made batch of TVP!

TVP!

Plastic Free Local Shopping List:

People's Coop (Portland Oregon) or Skagit Valley Food Coop* (Mount. Vernon WA)

Bulk Soy Beans ~ $2/lb

*I often have to drive past Mount Vernon to get from the crew house to the boat that I'm working on now. Skagit Valley Food Coop happens to be right off of I5. They're so proud of it there are signs for the coop on the interstate exit. Because I cross this area frequently, I try and stock up on bulk goods there.  

Interlude: An Autumn in Washington

Whew.

I just spent the last 3 months hopping from coast to coast on one boat and then another. In this line of work you don't have much say in what you eat or how it gets to you. I'm sure I went through more plastic packaging in these last 3 months than I've used in the last 3 years. That's the nature of this side of seasonal work, I suppose. 

I'm currently working on a boat that's based out of Bainbridge Island, Washington. The boat is smaller than the last I was on, yet bigger than the boat before that.  I now find myself working for an organization that has a crew house where we can stay when we're off for a trip. One with room in the  pantry for personal preferences. So I figured it's about time to share some more tactics for avoiding plastic. 

Stand by for plastic free recipes brought to you from Bainbridge Island, Washington State.

-ems