Monday, January 2, 2012

Spam Musubi

I went to Mitsuwa, a Japanese supermarket in Saratoga over the weekend and have been on a Japanese food craze. I'm obsessed with making my favorite Japanese foods at home--miso soup, sashimi, tuna tartare, seaweed salad and even spam musubi. I guess that's more Hawaiian than Japanese. Either way, I just love it. Although the quality is not as great as a true Japanese restaurant, it is so satisfying because I made it myself. I really really love recreating my favorite restaurant meals at home. More often than not, most recipes are not really as hard as you think. Try it!


I looked up some recipes for spam musubi but ended up winging it, like most things I cook. I hate measuring and generally trust my taste buds during the cooking process. Luckily, they turned out well! If you want to make these at home, here's what you'll need.

Spam Musubi

spam
nori
sushi rice
sushi seasoning
mirin (sweet cooking wine)
soy sauce
granulated sugar

1. Cook rice in a rice cooker, according to directions. I like to use a 1:1 1/8 cup rice to water ratio.
2. While rice is cooking, remove the spam from the can. Avoid looking at the nutritional value information at any cost! Slice lengthwise into 1/4 in slices. 
3. Mix together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup mirin and a tablespoon sugar. Marinate spam in the mixture.
4. Transfer hot cooked rice to a wide flat container and mix in sushi seasoning and mirin.  Start with a tablespoon of each and gradually add more until you're satisfied with the taste. I like mine vinegary and sweet. While stirring in the seasoning, grab a magazine and fan the rice until it cools to about room temperature.
5. In a large pan, cook the marinated spam over medium heat until heated all the way through, approximately 10 minutes. Make sure to turn the spam over after 5 minutes.
6. Cut the nori into long strips. Set aside.
7. To assemble, form the rice into rectangular patties. Lay down a piece of plastic wrap, then the nori, rice and spam on top. Carefully roll the plastic wrap so the nori wraps around the rice and spam. Remove the plastic.
8. If all else fails, take a bite of rice, spam and nori and call it a day!

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