Spam Fried Rice Musubi

Take the classic Hawaiian snack to the next level! This spam fried rice musubi swaps plain rice for curry-spiced pineapple fried rice, layers it with a savory dashi egg, and wraps it all up with sriracha-glazed spam. It's a sweet, salty, and savory bite that's impossible to put down!

Watch how to make this

Recipe

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Spam Fried Rice Musubi

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine: Hawaiian, Thai

Keyword: pork, rice

Servings: 6 musubi

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Pineapple fried rice

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 shallots minced
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• ½ cup finely chopped pineapple
• 2 cups day old sushi rice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Spam

• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon sriracha
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 12 ounces spam sliced into ¼-inch thick slices
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Eggs

• 4 large eggs
• ½ cup water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon instant dashi powder
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon oil

Remaining ingredients

• 2 sheets nori cut into thirds lengthwise

Instructions

• Prepare the pineapple fried rice. Heat 1 tablespooon oil in a saute pan or wok over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots and garlic until aromatic, about 1 minute. Add the pineapple and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the rice, breaking it up as it reheats. Season the rice with soy sauce, fish sauce, curry powder, and sugar, stirring until well combined. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped cilantro. Let cool slightly.
• Prepare spam. Combine water with soy sauce and sriracha in a small bowl. Set aside.
• Heat a medium pan over medium-high heat. Lay spam in an even layer and cook until browned and crispy on the edges, about 2 minutes. Flip and sear on the other side.
• Reduce heat to medium-low. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar evenly over both sides of the spam. Pour in soy sauce mixture and swirl the sauce, flipping the spam to evenly distribute. Simmer until the sauce dissolves, about 4 minutes, flipping the spam over halfway through. Remove from heat and keep warm.
• Cook the eggs. Whisk together the eggs with water, salt, dashi powder, and white pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large 12-inch nonstick saute pan over medium heat. Add the eggs and cook until the eggs have set. Remove from heat and cut into 6 pieces the same size as the spam.
• Assemble the musubi. Use a musubi mold and place it on top of a cut sheet of nori. Press about ⅓ cup of the pineapple fried rice in the bottom. Lay a piece of egg on top followed by a slice of spam. Remove the mold and wrap the nori around the spam, egg, and fried rice. Repeat with the remaining musubi. Serve immediately.

Notes

The rice, spam, and eggs can be cooked ahead of time. Reheat the items before assembling the musubi.

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Make fried rice

A basic spam musubi consists of just plain white rice and seared spam. Don't get me wrong, it's good. But I wanted to add more flavors and add a sweet element. That's where pineapple fried rice enters the picture. Plus, it just made sense to incorporate pineapple in this Hawaiian snack.

To make pineapple fried rice, you need day-old rice, shallots, garlic, pineapple, soy sauce, fish sauce, curry powder, sugar, and cilantro.

One of the first things I learned as a child, even before attending the Culinary Institute of America, was that you need to use day-old rice for the best fried rice.

Fresh rice has too much moisture, which means you'll end up with mushy, clumped fried rice. However, day-old rice dries out on the surface, so the grains hold their shape better.

Saute the shallots and garlic until aromatic, about 1 minute. Then, add the chunks of pineapple and saute until they become slightly caramelized.

Make sure you cut the pineapple small enough so that there's a uniform amount throughout the rice. It'll also make it easier to assemble the spam egg and pineapple fried rice musubi later on.

Next, add the day-old sushi rice, breaking up the rice as it heats. Add the seasonings, stirring until every grain of rice is seasoned. Toss in some chopped cilantro and let the rice cool slightly.

Step 2: Prepare other components

Meanwhile, prepare the remaining ingredients. Sear the spam over medium-high heat in a large pan. Then, sprinkle sugar on both sides and add the soy sauce and sriracha mixture.

The sriracha adds just a touch of spice to the spam, but you can omit it if you prefer.

Bring the liquid to a simmer and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated. Flip the spam over halfway through the cooking process.

Remove the spam from the pan and keep it warm while you prepare the eggs. Whisk a couple of eggs with dashi powder, water, white pepper, and salt, and cook them in a nonstick saute pan to create an "omelet."

The dashi powder will add a savory element to the eggs. The seasoning is similar to how you would prepare savory tamagoyaki, although the cooking method is different.

Remove the eggs from the pan and cut them into 6 pieces that are the same size as the sliced spam.

Step 3: Assemble

Now it's time to make the spam fried rice musubi. If you have the musubi mold, now is the perfect time to use it. However, if you're like me and don't own the mold, you can make your own using the spam can.

Clean the spam can and very carefully remove the top and bottom. Wrap the cut edges with clean duct tape to prevent you from getting any cuts, and there you have it! Rustic, sure, but it works.

Place the musubi mold at the end of the nori strip and pack in the pineapple fried rice. Lay a strip of egg, then add the spam, then remove the mold. Roll up the musubi, wrap it in the nori, and repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Just when you thought spam musubi was already tasty, have a bite of this version and discover a whole new world! The spam-fried rice musubi are incredibly flavorful, offering a salty-sweet note in every bite.

Now, if I could have this all the time, I would be a happy camper!

Make-ahead and storage

• Make-ahead: You can make them a few hours in advance. Wrap each musubi tightly in plastic wrap and store it at room temperature. They're best eaten on the same day.
• Store: Wrap the musubi individually in plastic wrap and store them in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

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