Spamusubi is a popular snack and lunch food composed of a slice of grilled spam on top of a block of cooked short-grained rice, wrapped together with a strip of nori in the tradition of omusubi. Spamusubis are popular in Hawaii but are available elsewhere in mainland restaurants and is very easy to make at home.
Spamusubi (Spam Musubi)
The spamusubi is a Japanese-inspired Hawaiian snack that's simple to make and yet delicious. Perfect for snacking or part of a packed lunch. If you don't have a musubi press, just use your hands to shape the rice ball. We have added sliced processed cheese in this recipe but it is optional.
Servings: 12 pieces
Ingredients
- 1 container spam
- 3 sheets nori
- 2 cups uncooked short grain white rice
- 6 slices processed cheese
Marinade
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Cook 2 cups of uncooked white rice according to rice directions. If you have a rice cooker this will be easy, but if not, use a pot to cook rice. The ratio is 1:1 water to rice. Once cooked, allow the rice to cool until it is cool to touch.
- Whisk together the marinade ingredients in a bowl: soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar.
- Cut Spam into 12 slices and fry them on medium heat for 2 minutes on each side. Using a non-stick frying pan is best but if you have a skillet that will work too.
- Lower stove to medium-low heat, add marinade to the pan and cook until the marinade is thickened and sticking to the spam. This should take about 5 minutes.
Assembly
- Time to assemble the spamusubis! First take 1/12 of the cooked rice and either using a musubi press or your hands, shape the rice ball into a musubi-shaped log. If using your hands, it helps to wet them with water first so that the rice doesn't stick to your hands.
- Split a slice of cheese in half and place one of the half slices on top of the shaped rice. Then place a slice of spam on top.
- Finally, split a nori sheet to 4, and take one of the nori strips and wrap it around the musubi. You can moisten the nori strip ends with water in order for them to stick.