DIY: Spam Musubi

I love spam. I’m not talking about unwanted emails, but the savory meat product in a can. When you pull it out of the can it is very pale and doesn’t look very appetizing. Once you slice it up and pan fry it, it glistens and transforms into something beautiful and tasty.

My favorite way to prepare spam is to make spam musubi. It is a simple snack food famous in Hawaii that only requires a few ingredients to prepare. In general, spam might be one of those foods that remain in your cabinet for an emergency situation. After all, it became popular in the early 1940’s when it was sent out to troops serving in WWII.



I sort of think of spam musubi as something to prepare when I put myself in an emergency situation (where I may not have access to food for hours). I have taken spam musubi with me on long hikes, flights across the country, and just yesterday for a scavenger hunt. Thinking about it, my first time having spam musubi was about twenty years ago when a college friend in San Diego made it for our road trip to Las Vegas.


Ingredients & equipment

Directions:

Wash rice thoroughly. I typically rinse the rice with water until it is no longer cloudy. Cook rice in approximately 2 1/4 cup of water in a rice cooker.



In the meantime, prepare your spam by cutting into 8-10 slices. Heat a pan over stove top on medium and lay spam evenly on pan to heat until light brown and glistening on both sides.

Once your rice is cooked, transfer to a large bowl to cool down. When completely cool, sprinkle furikake seasoning all through the rice. I buy the one with sesame seed, salt, sugar, and seaweed.

Lay a sheet of seaweed (shiny side down) on a cutting board. Place your musubi mold in the center. My musubi mold makes double the amount and fits the seaweed sheets perfectly. If you have a single mold, you will need to cut your seaweed in half.

Place about half an inch of the rice mixture evenly into the mold. Insert a layer of spam. Place another half inch of the rice mixture on top. Insert your musubi topper and press down while pulling mold up.

Take the back side of the seaweed and wrap it forward. Using your finger, dab a little bit of water on the front of the seaweed to wrap and seal over.

Turn the spam musubi over and cut into pieces. Repeat until you have used up your ingredients.

Enjoy!