Weekend Spamin’ Spam Musubi

Weekend ‘ Spamin’

This is my homage to the delicious SPAM MUSUBI that we would buy at the

Aloha Flea Market, at the Aloha Stadium in Hawaii, many a Saturday morning.

We would arrive early to stroll the aisles and buy shorts, t-shirts, sarongs, slippers, (flip flops), and a lei or two. Then by lunch time I would stop off at one of the food stands to buy our SPAM MUSUBI to snack on as we strolled around some more. I was always on the lookout for my vintage Hawaiian collectibles. I could usually find some, but they did tend to be off the beaten track and in the more out of the way booths that were more towards the center of the market. Where the locals would shop.

(My little SPAM and Cheese Tree.)

This is the perfect quick lunch to grab as you run out the door. Our kids grew up on these so they love them too.

So here is to the unappreciated canned SPAM!

Spam Musubi

Delicious and so Pretty

We don’t eat SPAM very often, I haven’t eaten it in years because it is processed meat and we don’t eat much processed meat anymore. The occasional brats but no more hot dogs or any kind of potted meat. But this was a special occasion and seeing how it is a holiday weekend there was no excuse not to indulge ourselves.

The Aloha Flea Market

The Aloha Flea Market is a Saturday staple in Honolulu at the Aloha Stadium. There are rows and rows of vendors selling their wares, Polynesian and island music playing in the background, nice festive atmosphere. Tourists as well as locals visit the Aloha Flea Market. Here is where we spent many a Saturday morning shopping, strolling the aisles looking for our Hawaiian and Asian treasures, buying our fruit from the vendors and visiting my favorite seller to buy his banana bread. For lunch we always stopped off at any vendor to buy our Spam Musubi. My kids love it. They grew up eating it. Brodie is especially fond of it. So what a nice surprise this will be when they come home from their weekends away to find this.

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SPAM Musubi Cake

For Those of us that Love it!

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The Gift of Spam Musubi Kit

I put this together for my daughter one year as an added Christmas gift.

A can of SPAM, Nori Seaweed, and even a cute little plush SPAM Musubi, along with some other Asian treats.

She loved it!

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Making Sticky Rice

It’s Got to be Calrose Rice

The locals in Hawaii whenever they make any of their delicious foods that require rice, which is most of them, they always use Calrose Rice. Calrose is a medium grained rice which works very well in their dishes.

Also, every local Hawaiian family has at least one rice cooker. Although they usually have a good 2 or 3 in each household.

Here Gordon is showing you how to make the rice in the rice cooker.

All rice comes with a waxy coating on it. Mainland American’s tend to just eat that waxy coating. But the Asians and Islanders do not. They rinse it off.

It usually takes about 3 rinses in order to do so.

Look at the photos above. Gordon has placed the amount of rice he wants to cook in the pot. He then adds water to the rice and moves his hand around in the bowl to wash the rice. He will then dump that water out while leaving the rice inside the bowl.

Here he is doing it for a second time. Adding the water, rinsing it around the rice in the bowl, and then discarding the water and then adding more….

He does it a good 3 times before he adds the water for the cooking time to begin the process with the rice cooker.

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Here Gordon has filled the water up to his knuckle with the 3 times washed rice inside of it. The waxy coating is now gone.

Now It’s Time to Start the Rice Cooker

Our Other Ingredients:

SPAM, of course

Cooked Calrose Rice

Mirin

Peanut Oil

Black Sweet Soy Sauce

Nori Seaweed

Musubi Mold

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The reason that SPAM is such a popular food in Hawaii stems back to WW2. During the war the American Government sent lots of cans of SPAM to Hawaii for the sailors and soldiers. It was a meat that would last a very long time thus making it very desirable. The locals fell in love with SPAM and used it in many of their recipes. Even to this day. Here is one way they would eat it.

WE LOVE SPAM! And we are proud to say that!

It just doesn’t get the credit that it deserves when it comes to feeding a family.

Here is our Sticky Rice from above. Gordon placed it in a large bowl.

Here he is adding the Mirin. Mirin is a rice wine that adds amazing flavor to rice. (Also to Pasta.)

This is something of a ‘taste as you go.’ Some may like more Mirin. Some may like less. We pour, then taste. Pour, then taste. Until we have it as we want it.

The Peanut Oil is for frying the SPAM slices.

Gordon is Frying the SPAM on a Medium-High Heat

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Pouring in the Black Sweet Soy

This stuff is amazing! It is turning this SPAM into caramelized candy!

You just want both sides to be drenched in the Black Sweet Soy while the SPAM browns.

You can see here how beautiful it is!

SPAM Musubi Candy 🙂

(I wanted to stop here as this section is new. We are combining this new section (which you just read), with the old section which is directly below this one. Each section gave something different so we are combining them here.)

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Here is the start of our original content:

The ingredients are simple. A can or two of Spam, Nori (seaweed), rice, sweet soy sauce, and a mold. You can cut out the bottom of the can of Spam to use as a mold if you don’t have one.

By adding the sweet soy sauce to the already cooked Spam it becomes a caramel like sauce.

How To Mold Your SPAM MUSUBI

Open your package of Nori Seaweed and fold in half, lengthwise. Then cut into your desired strips. Next take one piece of the seaweed and lay flat on a cutting board. Place your mold over top of the seaweed.

You want to fill the bottom of the mold with your rice, then press it down.

Now add one of your fried SPAM, then another layer of the sticky rice.

Press down so that the rice is all nice and compact, then you can remove the mold.

Now you just want to wrap your seaweed around the rice and Spam.

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For a smaller strip of seaweed just cut to fit and repeat as you did above. Some people are not seaweed fans but they may eat just a little bit of it.

It’s not hard to make at all.

NOTE: It is best to use day old rice. Just make rice the night before and keep in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble your

SPAM MUSUBI.

No fork or chopsticks required. Just pick it up and start eating it.

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You can find the molds to purchase at your local Asian Grocery Stores, or you can find them online.

Keep in the Refrigerator and grab as a snack or a light lunch.

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Hawaii Food Truck

You can find Spam Musubi all over Hawaii.

Pretty much a staple on every food truck and at every gas station.

A Bowl Full of SPAM Musubi

I wrapped them individually and place them into the frig. The kids will grab one or two to take to work for lunch, same with Gordon. Nice light dinner too.

Ying and Yang Fortune Game

The sticks tell your fortune and it’s telling me the Spam Musubi Is Ono!!

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HAWAIIAN STICKY RICE

How to Make Perfect Sticky Rice

It’s not just for Musubi! It is delicious all on it’s own.

Jasmine rice is good too, here is a white and a brown.

Fill the rice about half way up the bowl.

Fill with water and rinse.

Then rinse again, and again. You want to remove the starch coating off of the rice.

When done, place about 1 inch of water above the rice or one of your knuckles is an easy measurement.

If you have a rice cooker just close the lid and turn it on. If you don’t, do the same thing in a pot, bring the water to boil and cover tightly, then turn to very low heat and simmer for ~ 12 min.

Perfect rice every time!

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On My Way Out The Door

I always carry food and drink with me even when I am just going to run some errands. This is hot, humid Florida and many a person has gotten heat stroke and dehydration from living here in this heat so I always have nourishment with me so that I am not reliant upon whatever I may come upon.

In this case I am on my way out the door to the condo.

Hence, my lunch.

I do have a nice sack lunch, don’t I?

Spam Musubi, crab salad on some wheat crackers, a mango for dessert and my favorite Cranberry Ginger Ale.

I always have my Made in Japan vintage binoculars with me. Aren’t they pretty? I bought them at a thrift store for about $6.00. They retail on Ebay for around $50.00. I always have them with me. We are surrounded by ocean here so you never know when you might see a dolphin and want a closer look.

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Crab Salad

Gordon makes the best crab salad ever. The secret is using rice wine. Also we don’t use real crab, this is imitation crab, white fish from Alaska. I love real crab but unless we know where it comes from then we don’t eat it. Next time we are in Virginia and Maryland we will definitely chow down on some crab.

The pretty bowls I bought at the Asian Supermarket. Here I glued two bowls together, one upside down. I have a friend who’s birthday sign is Cancer, the crab, I’m planning on giving her a nice set as a gift. I do love mine though!

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Crab Salad Recipe

This is a quick and easy cracker topping that is always a hit. Simply use one package of imitation crab meat of which I prefer the chunk type made by the company shown. I found this brand breaks up nicely like real crab meat.

Break up the the crab meat into a medium sized bowl and add 1/2 cup Miracle Whip, 1 Tbsp Old Bay Seasoning, 1/2 cup diced celery, and 2 Tbsp Rice Wine. Mix all ingredients well and place in the refrigerator for about 1 hour to chill. The Rice Wine adds to the sweetness of the crab and keeps the ingredients moist.