Today spam musubi is on the menu... don't freak out and un-follow, please. If you have been to Hawaii and spent time with locals, or if you have ever met someone from Hawaii you probably already know that spam is the chicken of Hawaii. Okay, maybe not the chicken of Hawaii, but it's certainly more popular there than it is here. While I'm not a canned meat eater (in fact I was a vegetarian for about two years), I do love a good spam musubi. If you're having a hard time wrapping your head around this, I don't blame you. When I first introduced my friends to it via Hawaiian dinner party they balked, and shook their heads. Then, when I fed it to them... that spam-hating face was gone and replaced with a seaweed and rice, Asian-inspired dish smile. Guess what's good? Spam cooked until warm and crisp in a soy sauce and sugar marinade, sandwiched between sticky white rice and wrapped in soft seaweed. If you're brave enough, keep reading for the recipe.
Spam Musubi
You'll need:
1 can of (25% less sodium) spam
1 package of nori (seaweed sheets)
2 cups white rice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
Furikake (seaweed seasoning) to garnish
Cook two cups of white rice (rinse the talc off of the rice prior to cooking to make it stickier). You will want the rice warm while making your spam musubi, so while it's on the stove prepare your soy sauce and sugar combination in a small bowl, mixing the sugar in until dissolved. I usually taste test it to make sure I have the right sweet-salty combo and it pretty much depends on your preference. Slice the spam thinly and cook on medium heat in a nonstick pan until the spam is cooked through, getting crisp and browned around the edges. Pour the soy sauce mixture over the spam until it has cooked down (this process is very quick), and transfer to a plate.
Now comes the assembly: Cut your nori sheet in half and use a musubi maker (the nifty gadget pictured above) or something similar (I've used the washed spam can before, but it's sharp). Place the musubi maker close to the end of the sheet of seaweed and fill about one-quarter full of warm rice. Sprinkle furikake over the rice and then lay on a piece of spam, followed by more rice. Tamp down with the musubi maker lid and roll up the nori around the rice and spam. Moisten the edge of the nori to make it stick and cut in half using a warm, wet knife. Voila, you're done!