Spam Musubi - WMW

That's right you read it right! SPAM Musubi (otherwise known as Spam Sushi!).  If your new to my blog your probably thinking "What? Spam? Really?" yes, really! I'm half chinese and I like to consider myself a native of Hawaii (okay not really but I literally went to Hawaii 2 times every year for the past 15 years).  I know the streets like the back of my hand.

 If you haven't been to the Hawaiian Islands then  you probably aren't familiar with the SPAM lifestyle that they live.  Before I go and show you my favorite thing ever.. Here's some history on SPAM and the Hawaiian islands.

History of Spam

Hawaiians have a love affair with Spam - they eat it as a delicacy, adding it to soups and stews, treating it as a side dish for breakfast, and enjoying it as the main event for lunch and dinner. Residents of Hawaii consume more Spam than populations anywhere else in the world: More than four million cans every year, or an average twelve cans of Spam per person per year. In fact, Hawaii is so well associated with Spam that Hormel even introduced a limited edition "Hawaii" can in 2003.

Spam Jam Waikiki 2010

Introduced in 1937 by Hormel Foods, more Spam is consumed per person in Hawaii than in any other state in the United States. Almost seven million cans of Spam are eaten every year in Hawaii.

  McDonald's in Hawaii has been serving their breakfast with Spam for years, so much that Burger King in Hawaii has started selling Spam to keep up with McDonald's.

  Now that you know the Hawaiian love affair with Spam you might recall seeing it on the menu's everywhere in Hawaii or at 7-Elevens or ABC Stores.

  I've come to love Spam because of all my trips to the islands.  So much in fact when I went with my honey if he couldn't find me for a few minutes he probably guessed correctly that I was at ABC Store getting some more Spam Musubi.  He was correct, I was. I probably consume at least 10 of those or more on a trip.  So I eventually had to learn how to make it myself.

Here's the recipe I like to use.  Although there are tons of variations.

Spam Musubi
I make a lot of changes from the recipe I linked this is kinda of my base.

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked short-grain white rice
6 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (12 ounce) container fully cooked luncheon meat (Spam)
5-6 sheets sushi nori (dry seaweed)

Directions

Take your Spam

Slice your Spam into small pieces lengthwise.  

Mix together soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar mix till sugar is dissolved. 

Place sliced spam into mixture and let marinate for 5-10 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, wash and cook your rice in a rice cooker, the original recipe says in a pot.. but I cook all my rice in rice cookers, I've seen far too many pans ruined because you forget about the rice cooking.

In a large skillet, heat spam at medium high heat. 

Cook slices for 2 minutes per side, or until lightly browned, then remove. 

I threw all the sauce in there with it too!

After your rice has cooked, mix in rice vinegar and nori mixture and let cool.

Nori Komi Furikake I go to my local Chinese supermarket and pick these up I love them I have another recipe that is my all time favorite with this stuff.  I don't know if I could spare to tell you all. 

Plus I don't know how well your going to take to my Spam recipe!

I like to eye ball how much nori shake I want. I have an obsession with the stuff so I put a lot in.

Take sheet of nori and place onto of your bamboo sheet, this pack came with it's own bamboo roll.

Have a bowl of water near by to keep hands wet so rice doesn't stick to your fingers.  

Press rice on the whole sheet of nori leaving about a 2 inch space at one end. 

Take two slices of Spam and place in the middle of the rice/nori.  

 

I like to add extra sauce from the mixture onto the rice (but that's because my nickname is Saucey and I loooove me some extra sauce! Plus I love the oyster sauce mixture)

Then roll the nori together so that the spam lays flat in the middle.

Complete your roll, then seal the ends of nori with water if necessary.

You'll end up with a few rolls of Spam Musubi.  

Yes they look alittle funny

I didn't say I was a sushi master

The first ones I made are on the right (you'll see it looks like crap, but that's okay they taste good) and the last two on the left are more normal looking since I got the hang of it again.

Use a knife and slice them into appropriate sized bites.  Water your knife and wipe it off as it'll make slicing easier in between slicing each piece. You'll end up with these little bite sized Spam Musubi's!

Nom, nom nom... 

What's even better my honey's mom used to work for Hormel the producer of Spam and she gave me SWAG! I have an I heart Spam shirt and she gave me little Spam singles.  She thinks I'm crazy but I just plain loved it when I found that out, because she had so much Spam I figured she must love it too. Nope just works for the company. 

Do you think I'm crazy for loving Spam? Have you despised it your whole life without tasting it? I have to say that I gained alittle water weight after eating all some of them, so I brought the rest to my cousins who also love Spam sushi.   

I was tempted not to post this because you'll either be A) Terrified of Spam, B) Love Spam too, or C) Think I'm just crazy.. So I tried another recipe last night that DID NOT turn out good.. Yuck that was my other option but since it was horrible I obviously am not going to share..