Spam Musubi

With its beaches and sunny weather, Hawaiʻi is often called "paradise on Earth." Another piece of this paradise can be found in the foods that locals enjoy; one such food is the beloved spam musubi.

It's no secret that Hawaiʻi is crazy about spam, and this local favorite is just one way we love to eat it. Spam musubis can be found in just about every corner store and can be enjoyed in a variety of ways: with eggs, with chicken, with hot dog, or with a sprinkle of furikake. The focus of this, however, will be the regular spam musubi.

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked white rice (or any other rice you prefer)
• 1 package of nori (seaweed) sheets (7.5" x 8")
• 1 can of spam (of your choice)
• 1 spam musubi maker (composed of a shaper* and a compressor*)

Teriyaki Sauce (optional)

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp Mirin

Directions

1. First, start off by cooking your rice. Spam musubis usually work best if the rice is a bit sticky, so make sure to add an extra 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water. (This means, if you plan on cooking 3 cups of rice, add 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups of water.)
2. As the rice is cooking, cut your spam into as many slices as you want. You can also cut these slices however thin or thick you would like.
3. To make the teriyaki sauce, mix all of the ingredients together until the sugar dissolves. (You may skip this step if you do not want the teriyaki sauce.)
4. Next, place the sliced spam onto a pan and pour the teriyaki sauce over the spam. Pour enough so that the sides of the spam are coated. Let this cook until the spam is caramelized with the sauce (or until browned). If you do not want the sauce, just cook the spam until it is to your liking.
5. After this, lay out a sheet of nori, and put the spam musubi maker in the center of the nori. Add rice into the shaper of the spam musubi maker, and then press down with the compressor.
6. Then, add spam onto the layer of rice. Add the final layer of rice on top (this is optional), and then press down on all layers with the compressor.
7. To remove the spam and rice, press down on the compressor and lift the shaper.
8. Starting with the far end, wrap the nori around the rice and spam, rolling it until it is covered. You can dip your fingertip in water and run in along the edge of the nori to help seal it.
9. Let it sit for about five minutes.

Voila! You're done! Now you can enjoy a little piece of paradise by biting into your spam musubi.

_{*Most, if not all, of these ingredients can be found either at your local grocery store in the Asian section or at your local Asian market.}

^{*shaper: box-like part of the spam musubi maker *compressor: a flat piece with a knob on top}