Spam Musubi (made in rice cooker)

Spam musubi is a sweet, savory teriyaki-type sauce with a thick slice of spam over a bed of hot compressed rice. It originated in Hawaii, and I particularly grew up eating them. Generally, you cook the spam in the teriyaki sauce first and then use a mold to press rice and spam together, giving you a layer of rice, spam, and teriyaki sauce. It is perfect on the go, as a snack after a long day, or for a day at the beach. However, this recipe is the easiest way to make spam musubi, as you can make it all in the rice cooker!

Ingredients

• Short/ medium-grain uncooked rice – Short or medium-grain rice is important for this recipe, especially if you are trying to make it into an onigiri.
• Filtered water -Filtered water is important when cooking rice. I have used tap water for rice before, and while that is okay, depending on where you live, chemicals and fluoride can be in the water—my rice looks yellowish when I use tap water.
• Soy sauce – I use Japanese soy sauce. If you use any other soy sauce, such as dark soy sauce, it can turn darker in color. Coconut aminos also have a lower salt content. However, you can use what you have and adjust later.
• Mirin – Mirin is a Japanese sweet wine used for many Japanese dishes. There is no direct substitute for this. If you don’t have this, substitute for 3 tbsp water and 1 tsp sugar.
• Sake – cooking sake is another essential pantry item in Japanese cooking. If you don’t want to use sake, you can substitute it with 3 tbsp of water, but the flavor will not be the same.
• Dashi powder – any kind of powder dashi will work for this. I like using hondashi, which is a staple in my pantry.
• Sugar – feel free to use your choice of sweetener. I am using regular table sugar.
• Spam – I used low-sodium spam for this recipe only because I had it on hand. It doesn’t make a big difference in flavor.

Topping

• Chopped green onion – this adds a nice crunch and flavor
• Furikake – furikake will help season the rice more. Taste the rice to make sure it is not too salty before adding this

Products mentioned in this recipe

• Rice cooker – I like using Zojurushi products, so here is the link to my favorite rice cooker.
• Onigiri mold – I bought mine at Daiso, a Japanese dollar store (the mold was $5). However, you can find a similar one on Amazon. You can also get individual onigiri molds
• Spam musubi mold – Spam musubi is known for its rectangular shape, so for a more authentic look, you can use this mold. I used the onigiri mold because I can make six at a time, and it’s more time-efficient for me

How to store

You don’t have to mold this into an onigiri. Like fried rice, you can serve and eat it in a bowl. If I take it on the go, I like to shape it into an onigiri. It will hold up in the fridge for a few days. Or, if you like to freeze your rice, you can freeze it for a few weeks.

To reheat, pop this in the microwave, air fryer, or pan-fry over the stove.