This is an easy go to recipe for lunches or even an afterschool snack that is sure to delight the whole family!
Spam musubi is a mandatory purchase for our family when ordering Hawaiian takeout. It’s supposed to be an appetizer, but it can be a meal (or a snack) on its own. You get a hefty wad of rectangularly shaped rice that’s typically slathered with sweet sauce and topped with a ¼ inch slab of spam and wrapped together with a strip of nori (dried seaweed paper). Absolutely delicious! However, sometimes we just don’t want to make the drive out and get it because you can’t just get spam musubi at a Hawaiian joint, you have to get the other delicious entrees and meals too! So, we decided to make these at home because they’re really easy to make and you can make a lot with just a few ingredients.
Then I found how easy it was to create this at home, I couldn’t wait to make it! Now usually when you think of spam masubi, you think of a hefty slice of spam and a decent portion of rice wrapped in a small layer of nori. While we love rice in our house, it was a little much sometimes.
Typically, spam musubi’s are about the size of half the can of the spam container and it can be a lot of rice at once. Our kids don’t always want that much rice and if we make it the usual way, it uses up a lot of rice if we intend to use all the spam in the can (Like 4 cups of cooked rice for 1 can of spam). Also, it can get a little messy if the rice wad doesn’t hold up well and it starts falling apart. So, we wanted something that was slightly easier to eat and a great after school snack for my kids. Enter: the Spam Musubi Roll. Imagine a cucumber or tuna sushi roll (Kappa or Tekka maki) but it’s spam inside instead. It’s the same ingredients but the ratio between rice and spam is more even and we think that it tastes better because there’s more balance; Not too much rice, not too much spam, and enough nori to hold it all together. More nori is used in this form but we think that the nori adds a lot more depth and umami in comparison. Eat them by themselves or dip with your favorite dipping sauces like chili garlic sauce or Japanese BBQ sauce.
Kitchen Tools Needed:
- Frying Pan (medium sized)
- Chef’s Knife: a multip purpose knife that you use to slice, dice, and chop. Usually medium to long in length.
- Kitchen Scissors: These are scissors that are used with food, not your usual crafting scissors
Ingredients:
- Furikake: This is a seasoning added to rice. We use the Ajishima brand.
- Cooked Rice: We use a medium grain rice, made in a rice cooker. Instructions on how to cook rice can be found here.
- Nori: Dried seaweed. You will want the large sheets of nori that you can cut down into 4 squares.
- Spam: Regular or less sodium both work well in this
- Water: Filtered water is used to seal the ends of the roll as well as make spreading the rice a bit easier.
How to make the Musubi Rolls:
- Combine 2 cups of cooked rice and about 3 tablespoons of your favorite Furikake (our favorite is the Nori Komi Furikake) in a medium sized bowl until fully mixed.
- Open and remove the spam from the can and slice into wide strips. You don’t want the slices too small as it could make it more difficult to evenly brown.
- Now in the frying pan on medium heat, cook the spam for about 2 min on each side to lightly brown both sides. You don’t want to overcook the spam. Overcooking it may result in a more tough/hard to chew piece.
- Once the spam has browned, remove it from the pan and place on a plate to cool. When the spam has cooled a bit, cut them into smaller slices down the length to create strips.
- Get your 6 sheets of Nori (dried seaweed) and cut into quarters (4 equally sized sheets). Cut in half twice. Then grab a small bowl and put 1/2 cup of water.
- To assemble the rolls You will start by grabbing one square of nori and lay it flat in front of you.
- Scoop out about 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup of rice (with a spoon or paddle) and spread it evenly on half of the nori sheet. (the amount of rice could vary based on how big you cut the nori.) If the rice is proving difficult to spread for you, wet your spoon/paddle or hands with the water you have in the bowl and use your hands to finish spreading the rice over the nori. The water helps to prevent the rice from sticking.
- Place 2-3 strips of spam in the center of the rice. Putting too many strips of spam on may prevent the roll from closing all the way.
- Now roll one end to other taking one side of the nori that has the rice and roll it to the other, keeping the spam and rice together.
- To seal the roll before you get to the end, wet your finger in the water bowl and moisten the inside of the nori on the free edge (no rice). Once wet, finish rolling the remaining length. Now you have a simple spam masubi roll. Repeat the assembly instructions until all the ingredients are used up. This creates about 24 rolls.
Spam Musubi Rolls
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp Furikake
- 2 Cups Uncooked Rice
- 6 Sheets of Nori
- 1 Can Spam
- 1/2 Cup Water
Instructions
- Cook the rice per the instructions or you can refer to our post here
- Combine the cooked rice and Furikake in a medium sized bowl until fully mixed.
- Remove the spam from the can and cut into wide strips.
- In the frying pan on medium heat, cook the spam for about 2 min on each side to lightly brown both sides. You don’t want to overcook it as it may result in a more tough/hard to chew piece.
- Once the spam has browned, remove it from the pan and place on a plate to cool.
- When the spam has cooled a bit, cut them into smaller slices to create strips.
- Get your 6 pieces of Nori and cut into quarters (4 equal smaller sized sheets).
- Grab a small bowl and put 1 cup of water.
Assemble:
- Grab one square of nori and lay it flat in front of you.
- Scoop out about 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup of rice (with a spoon or paddle) and spread it evenly on half of the nori sheet. (the amount of rice could vary based on how big you cut the nori.)
- Place 2-3 strips of spam in the center of the rice.
- Now roll one end to other taking one side of the nori that has the rice and roll it to the other, keeping the spam and rice together.
- To seal the roll: before you get to the end, wet your finger in the water bowl and moisten the inside of the nori on the free edge (no rice). Once wet, finish rolling the remaining length and now you have a simple spam masubi roll.
- Repeat the assembly instructions until all the ingredients are used up. This creates about 24 rolls.
