hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we're diving back into our series dedicated to Hawaiian comfort food with a shot at a small bite classic that has been on my list for some time now, which is the iconic Hawaiian onigiri known as spam musubi. For those unfamiliar, the concept of a spam musubi is not terribly complicated (particularly given that onigiri itself is not super complicated either). It is essentially a molded piece of sushi rice, layered with a spoonful of teriyaki sauce, and topped with a seared piece of the famous, canned mystery meat known as SPAM. As with most onigiri, its compact and easily transportable nature makes it an extremely common snack found in cornerstores and quickstops all around the island, often with increasingly more complex variation.

For our version today we will of course start with the required classic spam musubi, but then I thought it might be fun to dive into some of the more interesting variations that i've come across too, including a quick miso teriyaki sauce, our spam katsu musubi, crispy seared spam musubi, and just about everything else that I could think of, too. Hope you try it.

 

Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS 

  • 4 cloves garlic

  • 1 ich (about 1 tbsp) ginger

  • 1 can SPAM

  • 1 avocado

  • 1 egg

  • 2 cups jasmine rice

  • con starch slurry (2 tbsp corn starch dissolved in water)

  • kombu

  • nori strips

INGREDIENTS (teriyaki sauce)

  • 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

  • 1 tbsp sesame oil

  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar

  • 1 tbsp mirin

  • 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce

  • 6 tbsp brown sugar

  • 1 tbsp white miso paste

INGREDIENTS (katsu breading)

  • 1 egg

  • 1/2 cup AP flour

  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumb

PREP

  • CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside

  • MINCE the ginger, set aside

  • COMBINE all teriyaki sauce ingredients, then bring to a simmer

  • ADD the garlic, ginger, and corn starch slurry, then mix until a thickened sauce forms

  • RINSE the rice until the water runs clear, then combine with equal parts water and kombu, and cook in a rice cooker

ON THE STOVE

  • HEAT a skillet over medium heat, then add 2 tbsp peanut oil

  • SEAR the SPAM until golden brown

  • FORM the rice patties using the reserved SPAM container, then wrap in nori

  • OPTIONALLY (for crispy spam musubi) sear the formed spam musubi in a skillet over medium heat for an additional 2 minutes per side

  • OPTIONALLY (for avocado egg spam musubi) top the spam musubi with avocado and egg

  • OPTIONALLY (for katsu spam musubi) coat the the spam slices in AP flour, then egg, then panko, then fry in a 350F fryer for 3-5 minutes until golden brown

 

tagged with spam musubi, hawaiian spam, spam recipe, katsu spam musubi, hawaiian food, hawaiian recipe, hawaiian cooking, woo can cook