Spam musubi is a popular snack and lunch food in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 composed a slice of grilled Spam

Spam (food)

Spam is a canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, first introduced in 1937. The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative...

 atop of a block of rice, wrapped together with nori

Nori

is the Japanese name for various edible seaweed species of the red alga Porphyra including most notably P. yezoensis and P. tenera, sometimes called laver. Finished products are made by a shredding and rack-drying process that resembles papermaking...

 in the tradition of Japanese omusubi

Onigiri

, also known as or rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or oval shapes and often wrapped in nori . Traditionally, an onigiri is filled with pickled ume , salted salmon, katsuobushi, kombu, tarako, or any other salty or sour ingredient as a natural preservative...

.

Inexpensive and portable, spam musubi it is commonly found near cash registers in convenience stores.

Preparation

Typical preparation begins with grilling slices of spam

Spam (food)

Spam is a canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, first introduced in 1937. The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative...

, sometimes with a light teriyaki

Teriyaki

Teriyaki is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled in a sweet soy sauce marinade...

 flavor. An acrylic mold (often the shape of a slice of spam) is then placed over a long, narrow piece of nori

Nori

is the Japanese name for various edible seaweed species of the red alga Porphyra including most notably P. yezoensis and P. tenera, sometimes called laver. Finished products are made by a shredding and rack-drying process that resembles papermaking...

 and rice is pressed into the mold. The grilled spam is placed over the rice in the mold and the mold is removed. The nori is then wrapped over the top and around the musubi.

Variants

Spam musubi with furikake

Furikake

is a dry Japanese condiment meant to be sprinkled on top of rice. It typically consists of a mixture of dried and ground fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt, and monosodium glutamate...

and scrambled egg. Musubi may also be with fried shrimp, chicken katsu, or pork cutlet instead of Spam.