Spam Musubi - Ghetto Islander Sushi

 All Day I Dream About Spam Musubi. ADIDASM. This has to be one of my favorite foods of all time. A food I would've never touched if someone had'nt bought some and let me try it first. I naturally had an aversion to anything with spam in it because lets face it - its oldschool, its weird, its salty, its ingredients are questionable and its longevity in the can - remarkable. 

I tried these lil hawaiian bundles of love after my niece swore up and down that these were the next best thing since slice cinnamon raisin bread. One day I decided to give in and give it a shot (I always gotta try something once) 

 I didn't pay for them naturally as Hawaiian BBQ places are already frickin' pricey, and I wasn't about to throw down money over something with spam in it... let me tell you...It was love at first bite.  

I knew that after experiencing such a scrumptious sushi like sammich, that I would spend lots of time researching and trying to perfect this to make at home. Naturally I prefer to replicate foods from restaurants at home because: 

A.) I am a cheap ass and I would rather not have to go spend a fortune on foods that depend on others knowledge and skills to make 

B.) You can buy in bulk and have the ingredients ready for the making especially if you are in between checks. 

Spam Musubi is essentially a ghetto sushi. Its all the flavors of sushi without the freshness and high costs of raw fish; instead its substituted with the eternally preserved salted pork out of a can. Broke mans sushi? I'll have 7 peices, kthnxbye.  

This recipe has gotten rave reviews by all my friends and foes alike, and is SURE to be a hit at your next potluck!

WEIRD INGREDIENTS WARNING 

Spam Musubi Maker - You can buy these at Daiso or order them online. These are long square molds with a press that forms and compacts the rice and fillings into form. Get the double musubi maker it saves tons of time to make two at a time. Don't attempt to cut the bottom of the spam can, Ive almost cut myself doing this and its messy and tedious. 

Furikake - A seaweed and sesame rice seasoning. They come in all flavors but the best one to use is the NORI KOMI FURIKAKE. This is the classic one and the best one to use. You can also try the Wasabi flavor but Wasabi has a tendency to lose its bite after a while so I usually just stick to the Nori Komi.  

Spam - Yes its in the weird ingredients list because its still weird. Get the 25% Less Sodium for this recipe. Regular spam plus the marinade and the Furikake would make them total sodium, high blood pressure bombs. 

SPAM MUSUBI - TROPICAL GHETTO SUSHI DELIGHT 

For the marinade and sauce: 

1. One cup Kikkomans Teriyaki Sauce & Marinade  
2. 1/4 cup Mirin 
3. 1/3 cup water 
4. One Knob Ginger Minced (or 1-2 teaspoons ginger powder) 
5. One half White Onion diced (or one tablespoon onion powder)
6. 5-6 Garlic Cloves minced (or one tablespoon garlic powder) 
7. 1/2 cup Brown Sugar 
8. One Teaspoon White Pepper 
9. One teaspoon Black Pepper 

For the Rest 

1. One can 25% Less Sodium Spam 
2. 4 Cups cooked Sushi Rice (2 cups uncooked)
3. Nori Komi Furikake 
4. One Pack of Sushi Nori Sheets 
5. Corn Starch Flurry - (1-2 Tablespoons of Cornstarch mixed in a half cup cold water) 
6. Double Spam Musubi Maker

• Slice spam according to preference. I like mine thinner than the Hawaiian BBQ's. 
• Place all items for the marinade in a gallon ziploc bag and shake around to blend and dissolve the brown sugar. Add spam slices and marinate for one hour or overnight. 
• Heat up a large frying pan and remove spam from marinade, reserving marinade for later. Fry spam until dark and crispy. Set aside. 
• If you can, using a colander, pour the marinade through the colander and into the hot frying pan to separate the minced bits out. You want a smooth sauce. Boil for a 5-10 minutes then add the cornstarch flurry to thicken, you want the sauce thick enough to coat the spam. 
• After sauce has thickened add the spam back to the pan and allow the sauce to coat and reheat the spam slices.Remove from heat and set aside.
• Place a single nori sheet flat on the counter and put the musubi maker on top of it. Then add a few spoonfuls of rice inside and using a wet fork spread the rice around evenly. Sprinkle Furikake and using the musubi press press the rice down firmly. 
• Using tongs fish out the spam slices and place two in the musubi maker, then add two more spoonfuls of the rice, wet fork spread the rice, then more furikake then press again. 
• Gently lift up and remove the whole musubi maker off of the musubi brick, and fold over the nori sheets to seal and create the musubi. Flip the log over, seam side down, then using a wet knife slice the musubi brick in half. Repeat this process until completed. Try not to eat these all at once. 

Never blindly judge Spam.