Foodie

Friday, June 18, 2010

Spam Musubi

In Hawaii, Spam musubi, a tradition of Japanese onigiri,  is a very popular snack   Spam musubi is composed of a block of rice, be it jasmine or sushi rice,  with a slice of grilled spam(luncheon meat can be used, then the snack will be called Luncheon Musubi) on top and nori (seaweed) wrapping to hold it together. There are no fast rules to making this yummy snack except for the 3 main ingredients, cooked rice, Spam and Nori.  The sauce is of your own choice and if you are like me, i like mine naked - meaning 'no sauce' cos i find that the Spam is flavorful enough, in fact too salty.  A musubi mould would be good to have but until i visit Hawaii to get one, i will have to continue to make my musubi with a homemade improvised mould - an empty small can of Spam with both ends removed and a thick cardboard cut to the size of the can, covered with several layers of aluminium foil to be used as a press. A word of caution, the edges of the bottom of spam can is very sharp, so neaten sharp edges and use with caution.   I love making spam musubi for breakfast cos it is fast to make.  You know - asian household -  i always have leftover cooked rice and i will just heat it up in the microwave.  I even use the microwave to brown my slices of Spam - no washing of pans.  Yes, in a jiffy you can assemble and a sumptous breakfast/snack can be served.



Ingredients:

5 cups cooked sushi rice/jasmine rice, room temperature
5 sheets nori, cut in half lengthwise
1 (12 oz.) can Spam
Furikake(optional), to taste

Sauce:
6 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp mirin
4 tbsp sugar






Method:Cut Spam into 10 slices. Fry until slightly crispy. Remove and drain on plate lined with paper towels.

To make the sauce, in another pan, combine soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to low. Add Spam slices, coating them in the mixture. When mixture has thickened, remove Spam from pan.

To assemble, lay a sheet of nori lengthwise on a clean surface. Moisten lower half of musubi mould and place on lower third of nori. Fill musubi mould with rice and press rics flat until the rice is 3/4-inch high(this height is desirable but it does not matter, if you have put in more rice, then the height will be taller -  no rocket science). Sprinkle rice with furikake if using. Top with slice of Spam. Remove musubi mould with the press still on top of Spam,  keep in a bowl of warm water to keep it clean and moist.



Starting at the end towards you, remove the press and  fold nori over Spam and rice stack, and keep rolling until completely wrapped in the nori. Slightly dampen the end of the nori to seal it.

Repeat with the other nine Spam slices, making sure to rinse off musubi maker after each use to prevent it from getting too sticky.

14 comments:

tinyskillet said...

Some good tips here for making spam musubi! What a great breakfast!

Claire said...

Hi Lily,

I love Spam Musubi! I grill mine with Terriyaki sauce and I usually put a layer of rice, then the grilled piece of Spam, another layer of rice, then roasted sesame seed or furitake on top of that rice before I fold the piece of nori over. I will try to see if they have the Musubi mold here at the local Marukai market and if I find one, I'll get you one!

Claire

Anonymous said...

Aloha Lili

I live in Hawaii and I'll gladly send you a mould if you'd provide me a mailing address.

PS - I love your blog and your food and recipes.

Aloha
Annie

Esther said...

Yummy! There was a time where I would make these and eat around 3 of them in one sitting. I would be soo full afterward. Mine had 2 layers of rice. The recipe I use have equal proportions of sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. Thanks for sharing!

Bakericious said...

this look delicious, I am going to bookmark the recipe. thanks for sharing :).

Unknown said...

claire

thank you claire, i remembered you make great spam musubi.

Unknown said...

annie

you are so kind and generous. i would love to own a musubi mould. Could you drop me a line at my email lilyng_2000@yahoo.com, then we can correspond.

thank you again

Mary Bergfeld said...

Lily, I saw folks eating this when we were in Hawaii. I wasn't brave enough to try it and had to many memories of Spam during WWII :-). Your photo and recipe make it appealing. Have a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

Anonymous said...

Lily,

There was a Spam Festival in Honolulu not too long ago and they had spam katsu musubi also. I sometime use teriyaki ribeye in musubi for lunch.

Kathy

Cakebrain said...

I am still in the closet about loving spam. In Hawaii it was a revelation to see so many people openly loving it! Spam sushi is such a delicious concept!

arkonite_babe said...

Spam musubis are awesome! I'm from the UK and I make them all the time :)

Anonymous said...

I love your recipe.

Where can I buy a spam musubi mould? I'm in South East Asia.

Unknown said...

anonymous

i have no idea. We can get it from Daiso. so if you have daiso in south east asia, try looking there

Anonymous said...

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