Aloha friends! It’s April from Relax Lang Mom here with some inspo for baon ideas featuring Spam Musubi. You know how it is – the kids need filling and tasty lunches for school but we all want easy options. Spam Musubi is the perfect solution!
Making Spam Musubi – using the ultimate Spam (or really, any luncheon meat such as Purefoods Luncheon Meat or Maling would do just as fine), is really easy and simple. Only 5 ingredients and you’d be all set for a great kiddie lunch or baon for work!
It must be the season -I’m so into Hawaiian food these days. You know sometimes I go off tangent with a particular kind of food and recently, it’s Hawaiian food I’m crazy about. Only recently I blogged about Simple Poke Poke Recipe, and now I’m writing about Spam Musubi. So technically, musubi is Japanese in origin. It came from omusubi which is Japanese rice balls. but the addition of Spam made it Hawaiian.
Story time! A long time ago, there was this Japanese mom in Hawaii who thought than she can fuse Spam and omusubi together and the snack was born.
Spam is a Hawaiian local favorite, becoming popular after World War II. Spam was brought over from the mainland US for the troops during the war, and the large military presence in Hawaii led to Spam’s widespread local adoption.
Spam musubi is only made of 5 ingredients and so easy to do! You can use this Musubi Molder available in Shopee if you want to invest in good cooking tools. But you don’t really need a spam musubi molder in order to do this. Just reserve your Spam can, open both sides and use it as your DIY musubi molder. Make sure to be careful with the edge of the can though! If you’re a bit on the budget, there’s a lot of new Korean luncheon meat like this Lotte Brand in the market right now that has a square can. The trick really is to find a luncheon meat that has the same shape as the Spam.
Also, in this recipe, I used Coke, but you can just as easily use a mixure of sugar, water, and soy sauce. Oyster sauce should be fine to use too! There are no hard rules with Spam Musubi.
The Hawaiian version has furikake, and sometimes, at our local grocery store there’s this version. Its not really required but its great to sprinkle on top of the spam musubi.
One of my favorite shortcuts is mixing the mayo with soy sauce for an all-in-one topping. You can even make a big batch ahead of time and enjoy musubi all week. Making mini musubi is also fun for kids to join in on the assembly.
From classic Spam musubi to bacon-wrapped variations, the possibilities are endless!
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked rice (Japanese rice or those that are a bit sticky will do)
- Spam
- 1/2 cup Coke
- 1 TBSP soy sauce
- Nori Sheets cut to size
Instructions
- Slice the Spam as thick or as thin as you like.
- Mix the soy sauce and coke. Start with 1 TBSP and add as you like. Some like it sweet, some like it salty.
- Using a non stick pan, fry the Spam in batches and add some of the coke/soy sauce mixture. Wait until it caramelizes and the liquid is absorbed then transfer to plate. Do this for all the Spam. Use medium fire and make sure it doesnt burn. (Because of the propensity for burning, sometimes I just marinate the Spam instead of cooking it with the liquid, either way is cool and the kids love it)
- Lay the nori at the bottom. Add the prepared can at the top and carefully add rice. You can do 2 designs. One with the Spam halfway in between the rice and one with the Spam on top.
- Remove the can and wrap the nori around the rice. Use a few grains of rice to make sure that the nori is firmly stuck together.
- Serve and enjoy!
This recipe is great for baon to anywhere or a kiddie lunch idea for your small ones going to school.
Now I always keep musubi ingredients on hand for last-minute baon needs. The individual handheld sizes make them so portable too. Spam musubi also stores well overnight in the fridge or thermos. Talk about a delicious baon your kids will be excited for.
Let me know if you need any other baon inspiration using local ingredients. In the meantime, you can sign up for my newsletter below for more Filipino-inspired kiddie lunch ideas. Mabuhay and enjoy!
