Spam was trademarked on this day in 1937. Spam was primarily intended to ship to fighting men overseas during the Great War. Who knew it would take off the way it has today and that it would still remain on the store shelves 82 years later? To have a little fun, we tried something new tonight.

Spam isn’t a typical ingredient in our pantry, but I decided to branch out and try a new technique. I recently came across this recipe for Kimchi Fried Rice Musubi and since kimchi lasts such a long time due to its fermentation, I still had some leftover from the Kimchi Tacos I made a little while back.

This recipe is definitely a branch-out from anything we’ve ever tried before at home. It’s a little like sushi in the ingredients, but it’s also a great mashup of East-meets-West. I really appreciated how instructions were given in the method of preparation for both traditional (for those who had a musubi press at home) as well as instructions for those who didn’t have a musubi press.

Musubi is similar to sushi in that the fillings are held together in nori (the paper-like seaweed wrap that encompasses the whole of the rice/veg/seafood sushi insides). Musubi is different in that the fillings are layered and pressed in a mold to create brick-like edibles as opposed to log-like ones. Both use delicious very short-grained sushi rice, but this musubi recipe called for it to be stir-fried before filling.

We both had alot of fun together in the kitchen creating these. The Spam was actually good in the musubi pieces (considering it had been fried and glazed); but if Spam isn’t your thing, you could definitely swap it out for something more to your tastes! We had some plain, cooked sushi rice left over so we used that to make quick fried rice. We have some nori leftover as well so homemade sushi isn’t ruled out for the future…

Have you ever tried musubi before? What are your experiences?