Kirkland Foodies: Spam Musubi

Spam musubi is one the reasons why my cholesterol was so high last year back in June when my wife and I visited Kaui for a week. If you look at the nutritional fact for Spam it is pretty scary. Check it out:

The reality of Spam it is high in saturated fat and sodium! So why eat it? Spam is one of those canned processed food items that many of us grew up on. It is quick to cook, rather inexpensive, and many of us would agree that it is tasty but we would not confess in public. The shelf life on a can of Spam is supposedly "indefinite" but will lose flavor over time. I had a can of Spam opened once and forgot to eat it 3 weeks later and it was still very tasty. Here it the quote from the Hormel website:

What is the shelf life of a Hormel Foods product in an unopened can? The processing techniques utilized by Hormel Foods makes the canned product safe for use indefinitely if the product seal remains intact, unbroken and securely attached to a can that has been well maintained. It is suggested that all canned products be stored in a cool and dry environment to keep the flavor adequately preserved. For maximum flavor it is recommended that the product be used within three years of the manufacturing date. After that period of time, the product is still safe to use however, the flavor gradually declines.

I'm vegan so what am I doing making Spam musubi? I fell off the vegan wagon a month ago and I had leftover Spam that I wanted to document on the blog. I've been back on the vegan train a couple of weeks ago but decided to splurge on a rainy Seattle Sunday :)

Ingredients (makes 2 musubi for 1 serving)
2 tsp teriyaki sauce
4 oz sliced Spam - don't use the low sodium or low fat version. It's just now the same!
1 cup of cooked rice
2 sheets of dried seaweed
1 Spam musubi mold

There's really two ways to make this and I'm going to show you one of the methods. Take your mold and coated with oil to prevent sticking. You can purchase this mold from any decent Japanese grocery store.

Take a sheet of dried seaweed and cut it lengthwise. You can also cut a few strips of seaweed to place in between the rice and the Spam for added taste. I love the taste of dried seaweed!

Place a sheet of the dried seaweed in the mold. The other method is to skip this step and place the rice in the mold without the seaweed and wrap it at the end. They both will work fine.

The two slices of the Spam and coat with teriyaki sauce. Heat out a frying pan to medium heat and cook the Spam slices for about 2 minutes on each side. You want a caramelized look to the Spam.