Musubis are the perfect portable snack or meal. Our family is often on the go, and we pack these for the road, swim meets, and beach picnics.  Our boys love musubis, and I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t find them fun to eat!

Spam Musubi is a popular snack and lunch food in Hawaii that consists of a slice of grilled Spam on top of a block of rice, wrapped together with nori (seaweed).  We are not Hawaiian, but I did get this recipe from our Hawaiian friend. The recipe she shared was for the classic spam and rice musubi.  This is my version with the modification of added eggs and cucumbers.  Once you get a hang of musubi making, you can get creative with what you put inside a musubi- you could even make them vegan with tofu if you prefer!

Ingredients and supplies to make 8 musubis (serves 3-4)

• 1 can of spam (I prefer reduced sodium), sliced into 8 pieces
• Mr. Yoshida’s sauce
• Nori/ Roasted Seaweed sheets, cut into strips the length of the musubi.  I found these at my regular supermarket in the asian foods section, but you can also get them on amazon.
• Seasoning – I use Nori Komi Furikake which can be found in Asian markets or online.
• Cooked Sushi or Medium Grain Rice (3 cups uncooked – you might have some leftover, but better enough than too little!)
• Cocktail / Persian cucumbers sliced
• Fried egg (6 scrambled, fried into a thin layer in a large frying pan*)
• Musubi mold

Instructions:

1. Cook the rice (I use a rice cooker) . You want the rice to be a little sticky, and which can be achieved by adding more water – about 1 1/3 parts water to 1 part rice.
2. Fry spam in a nonstick pan sprayed with a little bit of cooking oil. Once both sides are light brown / slightly crispy, pour a little bit of Mr. Yoshida’s sauce in the pan to coat both sides and turn off the heat. This is important because the sauce is sweet and will burn with continued heat. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate.
3. Cut the Roasted seaweed into long strips as wide as the long side of the musubi mold.  Place the strip of seaweed on a flat surface, shiny side down. Place your musubi mold across the middle of the Nori.
4. Add rice to the bottom, then press down to create a block of rice. Sprinkle some seasoning.  Then Add the Spam, Cucumbers, Egg. Sprinkle some more seasoning. Finish with final layer of rice. Press down again.
5. Remove the outer mold from the block.  Wrap the seaweed around the rice block, and place seam side down on a plate.

If you’re making this for the road, you can wrap them individually in a plastic wrap or they fit perfectly in a snack size ziploc bag.  I recommend eating them within a few hours, because if you refrigerate the musubis, the rice gets hard.  If you have to reheat them, you can do so in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.