spam musubi, a hiking good eats trend?

i never ate spam growing up.. actually no meats from cans except for tuna and my mom's ghetto gourmet ramen featuring canned abalone (ramen $0.99 per pack + abalone at $75 a can... talk about FANCY, especially since she never cooked, but she definitely knew how to eat). it was instant love when i tried spam musubi on my first trip with my best friends to Oahu after High School graduation. i mean seriously what else can you ask for? an on-to-go treat that is flavorful and filling and it had RICE (so asian, i know, especially coming from the only asian that doesnt prefer rice over bread or potatoes or pasta). i became more acquainted to it along with canned corned beef (the Filipino way, only because all my roomates were Filipinas?) and vienna sausages (still dont like those, yuck!) during my years at UCI experimental cooking with my roomies. but spam musubi remains my favorite way to enjoy it.. and it didnt help when my dear friend G acquired a couple of musubi rice presses for me on one of her trips to Hawaii. can we say YUM?

the point i'm getting to is that while thinking and researching about what to take to nourish ourselves on these long hikes of ours, spam and foil packed tuna came up alot. and furthermore, i remembered hearing stories of asian grandparents  immigrating and living off of rice balls (stuffed with various fillings like chicken or chinese sausage or dried shrimp wrapped in lotus leaves/seaweed, steamed as a way of preserving it). there must be something to that since it seemed to be what they survived on while in transit. It made sense to me to try out spam musubi for at least our lunch for the first day of our Mt. Whitney hike, especially when something kept reminding me how wonderful an egg would be up in that mix. (egg being a good protein source as well!) And well, we had it at the summit of Mt. Baldy. it was delicious and satisfying, everything i imagined it to be after a 6 mile hike to an elevation of 10,064 ft. 

see me wrap it onigiri style here.. (loving the new video feature on instagram!!)

Nori + rice

+ SPAM

+ EGG

Fold.

umami filled LUNCH at the top of Mt. Baldy.

ingredients:

1 can spam

soy sauce

sugar

shichimi togarashi (japanese dried pepper blend)

8 eggs (optional)

3 cups rice

rice vinegar

sugar

furikake

1 packet large sheets of nori (i like the korean ones), cut in half lengthwise

special equipment: musubi rice press or a cleaned spam can with both ends popped off.

directions:

open a can of Spam. One can should be able to be cut into 8-9 slices, pretty evenly. marinade in soy sauce, sugar and shichimi togarashi to taste. 

cook the marinaded slice in a pan over medium high heat, turning once. be careful, it cooks relatively fast. You will know when it's ready when the sugar caramelizes and you get a nice teriyaki looking color on the outside. remove from pan and set aside for assembly.

in same pan, cook eggs to your liking using an empty and greased spam can as your mold. i tried both overeasy and scrambled and i enjoyed it both ways. remove from pan and set aside for assembly. eggs made for a very substantial all-inclusive meal.

prepare the rice by mixing cooked rice with a little rice vinegar, sugar and furikake. (i like to mix in whatever leftover marinade to add flavor as well)**

now let's wrap. have your musubi rice press or cleaned spam musubi can ready.

get the large sheets of nori and lay one down. put the musubi maker/spam can on top, and add a layer of rice. use press or the back of a spoon if using spam can to flatten out the rice. 

on top of that add the spam, and then the egg, if using. add a second layer of rice on top of everything. carefully remove the musubi mold but gently holding down the pressed rice and pulling the mold off. 

fold over the bottom half of the nori, then wetting the top edge of the top half, fold that over to stick. (i like to use bits of rice to help seal it)

cut them diagonally in half for smaller servings or leave them whole. 

**sometimes i like to add sautéed enoki mushrooms into the rice to make it even more substantial.. the mushrooms lend it an extra layer of umami! mmmm...

happy eating! and watch out, they are quite addictive! try it out for your next hiking trip or picnic or pot luck or snack. :)

any suggestions on what would be a great (practical) meal while camping? 

stay tuned for more updates on the spectacular Mt. Baldy summit and our training progress!