Spam Musubi
Growing up in Hawai'i, spam musubis were a go-to snack. They are easy to make in bulk, keep well over time, and easy to transport.
While I am not vegan, I try to eat plant-based as much as possible. I never would have thought that I would have a plant-based alternative to the nostalgic spam-musubi of my childhood. When I saw that Omni Pork had a luncheon meat that looked just like Spam I knew I had to give it a try!
Omni Foods
Omni foods is a plant-based protein company that was originally started in Asia and their foods are geared towards the Asian food market. They have a range of products including seafood, frozen food, and pork alternatives. Their first two pork products were minced meat and pulled meat products. More recently they came out with this luncheon meat that resembles spam. These pork products only became available to the US in late 2021 and can easily be found at Sprouts Farmers Market as well as Whole Foods. Their luncheon meat can still be hard to find in grocery stories, so I ended up ordering mine from GTFO It's Vegan. If you are curious about trying their products, check out their 'Where to Find' page to see if you can find it close to you. From what I can tell, most of their pork products are made with a protein blend (soy protein).
Recipe for Omni Pork Spam Musubi
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of uncooked white rice
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- Seaweed sheets
- Package of Omni Luncheon Meat
Instructions:
- Cook the rice ahead of time. Let it cool a bit.
- Prepare the sauce by mixing equal parts soy sauce and sugar.
- Prepare the seaweed by cutting in half.
- Cook the luncheon meat in a frying pan on medium heat. After arranging the meat in a single layer, pour the sauce over the spam. Feel free to flip them a bit so that each side has sauce. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side. OmniFoods suggest heating the luncheon meat from frozen and cooking it for 4-5 minutes. Set the spam aside once they are cooked to your liking.
- To assemble the spam musubi I hand mold the rice. I grab about 3/4 cup of rice and use saran wrap to mold it into an oval shape that is about an inch thick and around the size of a luncheon slice. Once you have a compact rice ball, place it on one end of the seaweed. Add a piece of spam to the rice ball and roll tightly. Dab a bit of water to the end of the seaweed to secure it.
- Enjoy!
Personalizing your musubi:
I feel like a spam musubi is a very subjective food item that can be made many ways and always taste delicious. Some adjustments you may want to consider making include:
- Crispiness of the meat - I personally like really crispy spam musubis so I tried to cook my meat for longer
- Rice ratio
- Seaweed ratio
- Additional toppings: JUST egg, furikake (seaweed seasoning)
- Using a musubi mold - I am used to hand molding my rice balls, but plenty of asian stores sell musubi molds that can make assembling musubis a lot easier!
Review on Omni Luncheon Meat
As for cost, I paid around $7.00 for a pack of six luncheon pieces. In contrast, I can pay around $4.50 for a can of spam that can get me around ten slices. These base prices are not too different, however, when I account for the cost of shipping and handling ($15 from GTFO It's Vegan), these vegan spam musubis become less of a quick and cheap eat and more of a luxury snack. I do feel that once I am able to buy this product in stores (just like I can for other Omni Foods products), the price will be comparable enough that I do not mind the extra few dollars.
