In The Kitchen: Spam musubi

Chinese Culture

Photo credit: Victoria Li

Spam musubi is one of Hawaii’s most popular snacks. It can be found in most convenience stores there. Today, I am going to share my original spam musubi recipe with all of you. Spam musubi is basically a spam and rice sandwich with a twist. You can add different ingredients to your musubi such as fried eggs. It is a simple and delicious creation that I’m sure you will fall in love with from the first bite.

Ingredients (yield 3 servings)

2-3 cups cooked white/ sushi rice

5 nori sheets, cut in half each

1-2 cans Spam

6 tbsp Teriyaki sauce

4 tbsp sugar (optional)

Furikake sprinkles

Musubi maker (optional)

Direction:

Cut one can of spam in 8-10 slices, depends on your personal preference (I like mine on the meaty side, heavy on the spam). Fry in a pan for about 5 minutes on each side to make it slight crispy on all edges. In another pan, combine teriyaki sauce and sugar (if you like your spam to come out sweeter), mix well.

Bring the mixture to a boil, add spam slices into the pan to coat. Remove spam slices to a plate when the mixture thickens.

Lay a nori sheet on a clean surface. Place the musubi maker in the middle of nori sheet (It’s totally fine if you don’t have a musubi maker, just use your hands). Fill 3/4 inch cooked rice in musubi maker and press firm. Top with one slice of spam. Then add another layer of rice on top. Carefully remove the musubi maker, (pat musubi maker with water if it gets too sticky), and fold nori sheet all around. Sprinkle furikake on top, lay back and enjoy!

Note: You can make your musubi in different shapes and forms. Spam on top, in between or underneath the rice. I will show you two variations today. You can also make heart shaped musubi by using cookies cutters on Valentines day for your significant others. 🙂

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From left to right: Uncooked rice, sushi nori, spam, Teriyaki sauce and furikake

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Cut the spam into 8-10 slices

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Prepare Teriyaki sauce in a bowl

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Fry spam slices in medium high heat for about 10 minutes

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Glaze spam slices with Teriyaki sauce

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Cut Sushi nori sheets into thin slices

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Place one slice of nori sheet underneath the musubi maker, fill the bottom layer with rice

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Then press down rice till firm

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Place one slice of spam on top of the rice

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Add another layer of rice on top of the spam slice (like how you make a sandwich)

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sprinkle furikake on top of the rice to add flavors

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Wrap the nori sheet around the sandwich

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Here’s how your musubi should look like in the middle

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Photo credit: Victoria Li

Bon Appétit!

Recipe courtesy: Victoria Li