Spam Musubi

Hubby decided to surprise me with breakfast this morning. So he locked me up in the bedroom while he prepared everything. The last time he did this, he made some Malasadas, a Portuguese style donut that is a favorite in Hawaii (and our family's favorite too). So it was pure torture when he made me wait in the room while I was able to smell whatever he was cooking.

He was finally done and to my surprise, he made another one of my favorite Hawaiian delicacy - Spam Musubi. I know that not everyone is a fan of Spam. But its quite popular in the Asian/Pacific Island culture. Especially in Hawaii. You see, in the old war days when food was scarce, food that was not perishable (like Spam) was brought into the islands for the soldiers. The locals had to find creative ways to make dishes out of Spam and the Spam Musubi was born. Its basically a Spam Sushi and it was a great, portable meal for a lot of the farmers in Hawaii.

So that was my brief history on this yummy dish. And hubby did a great job with it. It came out yummy. I'm glad he made this because I had been meaning to try to make it myself. I may have to ask him to make some again :)

1 1/2 cup uncooked glutinous, sweet rice

1 1/2 cup water

Nori sheets, cut in half

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1/2 cup sugar (or more if you like it sweet)

1 Tbsp. oil

1 (12 oz) can Spam Lite, sliced 1/4 inch thick

Furikake

1) In a rice cooker pot or regular saucepan, pour in rice and water. Cook rice until done.

2) In a skillet, heat oil and lightly brown sliced spam on both sides.

3) Combine soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl. Pour in the skillet with spam. Cook until sauce begins to boil. Remove from heat.

4) To assemble the Musubi, use a square sushi mold. Place half a sheet of the Nori on the bottom. Place enough rice to reach about 3/4 up of the mold. Sprinkle with a little bit of the Furikake. Top with a slice of Spam. Fold the Nori over the Spam to seal. Serve warm.

*Note: you can also use a prepared teriyaki sauce in place of the soy sauce and sugar mixture.

**Furikake is a Japanese topping which is a mixture of dried fish, seaweed flakes and sesame seed, found in Asian stores

Malasadas (Hawaiian doughnuts)

Something we always make time for, whenever we're in Hawaii, is to eat the Malasadas - Hawaii's version of donuts. Its origin is actually Portuguese, and brought to Hawaii. They're so awesome, especially when they're piping hot. We order malasadas at the local L & L here in the mainland, but it just doesn't quite taste the same. Someone told us that their recipe comes out of a Pillsbury box. Who knows if that's true, but this morning, the hubby decided to surprise me and my daughter by cooking Malasadas for breakfast. He made sure to keep it a surprise and kept me and my daughter locked up in the bedroom while he was preparing. This was his first time cooking something on his own, and from scratch! And I think he did an awesome job. I helped him sugar the malasadas, but he did all the work himself. He shared the recipe with me and I thought I should include it on here. I'll definitely make him cook these for us again.

1 Tbsp Rapid Rise yeast
1 tsp Sugar
¼ cup Warm water
3 cup Flour
¼ cup Sugar
¼ cup Melted butter
3 Eggs
½ cup Evaporated milk
½ cup Water
Vegetable oil for frying

1) Mix yeast with melted butter, condensed milk, warm water, 3 beaten eggs at room temperature, half of the flour and sugar. Mix well. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Add the rest of the flour, mix well. Let dough rise until it doubles in size.

2) Heat vegetable oil to 375 degrees F. Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop 2 to 3 inch balls of Malasada dough. Cook in vegetable oil until golden brown and cooked through. Set on paper towel to drain oil. Toss malasadas in 1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1/4 cup cinnamon. Serve warm.









(recipe adapted from hawaiianfoodrecipe.wordpress.com)