Ginger-Soy Spam Musubi

If you hear the word “spam” and wrinkle your nose, then you have to try a spam musubi! Thick slices of spam are fried crispy, then sometimes simmered in a sweet soy sauce before being placed atop a block of fluffy rice and covered in a strip of seaweed.

This local Hawaiian delicacy is ubiquitous at soccer games, beach days, and gas stations all over the island, and everyone has their own recipe, from adding egg, extra seasonings, sauce or no sauce, or even replacing the spam completely. My version is a little sweeter and a little spicier than you might find at the local 7-11, but it’s how my mom made it my whole childhood - having spent many years in japan herself, she never forgets that splash of mirin that ties everything together.