Spam Musubi

I hosted a meeting at my home tonight. I made an array of food stuff. Amongst them was Spam Musubi.

I posted the recipe about a year ago and recently I tried a different recipe which I read from Adventures in Bentomaking. I tried looking back to find the specific post but couldn't find it. Anyway I remembered the recipe for the sauce which said half cup sugar, half cup shoyu and half cup water. The best thing was, her recipe recommended 'boiling' the spam in the sauce instead of frying the spam. (saved all the splattering)

Picture below shows the 'boiled' spam.


This is the final outcome. The spam musubi was delicious. I liked it. After I opened the cling wrap, I drizzled some kewpie mayo on the sliced musubi before serving. I liked the added flavor.



For method and more pictures of my previous post, click here.

SPAM MUSUBI

Occasionally, I treat myself and the girls with SPAM. More often than not, I would make Spam Musubi.

This is an all time Hawaiian 'sushi' favorite! Much as I have heard about Hawaii, I have never been there. But thanks to the internet, I've visited many interesting sites and learnt many different but interesting recipes. I have also found out that the Spam Musubi is an icon of the Hawaiian local cuisine, and are sold practically everywhere in Hawaii.

Recipe:
1 can of SPAM
2 cups of rice
2 1/2 cups of water
**sushi vinaigrette for rice
1/4 cup shoyu
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/2 cup sugar
Nori sheets

Method:

1. Slice the SPAM and marinate in oyster, shoyu and sugar for at least 15 minutes. Remember to flip over to marinate the other side.


2. Wash and cook the rice - 2 *cups rice and 2 1/2 cups water.

*The cup used here is from the rice cooker. One cup from the rice cooker cup is equivalent to three quarters of the standard measuring cup.
Don't ask me why because that's what I found out when I made comparisons. And that's why I don't like using 'cup' measurements for baking, I find it inconsistent.

3. When rice is cooked, mix sushi **vinaigrette as you do for sushi rice.
(**this is optional, but I like the combination). Leave to cool.


4. Prepare a 'box like' container if you do not have a sushi press.
5. Meanwhile, oil a pan and start frying the marinated SPAM. Some parts will caramelize and turn black because of the sugar but it's delicious, just don't burn it!

6. Stuff the sushi rice into the sushi press and compact the rice into a firm block. Remove rice block out of the sushi press and line top with fried SPAM.


7. Wrap with a piece of Nori.


8. Slice the block of Spam Musubi into six or eight pieces (depending on the size of your sushi press).
9. Enjoy!

Sabbath

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The term Sabbath or Sabbat is originally derived from the Hebrew shābath "to rest". In Judeo-Christian religion it refers to a weekly day of rest and worship. In religion: Sabbath in Christianity, a weekly religious day of rest in Christianity.
In Christianity, the Sabbath is a weekly religious day of rest as ordained by one of the Ten Commandments: the third commandment by Roman Catholic Church.

For my family, Sunday is a day of worship and time spent with our Catholic community. After Sunday Mass, we normally spend more than half the day at Church participating in activities of personal interests and appeal.

For me, it's also Bento preparation time for the upcoming week. I need to get my Bento staples and supplies ready.

Today, I prepared the "Aburaage" (Japanese taufu pok) for Inari Sushi. It's very easy and delicious. I always prepare the aburaage ahead of time and leave in the fridge. It can easily last for 10 days. This recipe I have is much nicer than the commercial ones that you can buy from Jusco.

The recipe:
1.
10 pcs aburaage
2 cups dashi
4 tbsp shoyu
5 tbsp sugar
8 tbsp mirin

Remove oil from aburaage by rinsing in hot water.
Simmer all the ingredients in a pot and line arburaage layer by layer gently without damaging it. Just let it simmer until almost dry. Use a "Otoshi buta" (literally: drop-lid) so that it doesn't dry out too fast.

2. Squeeze dry the aburaage so that all the remainder liquids are removed.

3. Then you cut the aburaage into half and gently open it up so that you can stuff the sushi rice into it.

4. Viola! It's ready - Enjoy!

Note: I didn't stuff mine today because I'm preparing them for use later in the week.

I also made a batch of dipping sauce for 'Cha Soba'. This is my children's all time favourite dish. It's good for 'abstinence' days or hot days because it's meatless. So easy!!

The recipe:
1.
2 cups dashi
1/2 cup Mirin
1/2 cup shoyu
pinch of sugar

Mix all in a pot and bring to boil. Cool down and refrigerate until chilled.

Note: In my case, I freeze it and thaw when I need to use. I freeze some in small containers so that my daughters can also bring Cha Soba to school to eat. By break time at school, the dipping sauce is half thawed. You just need to keep them in a plastic bag so that the cold water droplets don't wet the rest of the stuff in the Bento bag.

I made a whole batch of Onigiri this evening.
See top row: Onigiri with mini hamburgers
See middle row: Spam Musubi and some Onigiri with mixed left overs.
See bottom row: Triangle ones stuffed with tuna and mayo.

Look at the 5 cups of sushi rice I cooked!

Onigiri with mini hamburgers

Spam Musubi