Recipe Vegan Spam Musubi

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Apparently, so I'm informed, this is a great snack for when you're craving something savoury without the mystery meat content of SPAM.

Honestly, I've no idea if it is or not, I've never had spam or anything even vaguely similar. The tofu was salty, the rice was slightly sweet and i think my tofu comes in bigger packets than the blogger's does!

The tofu is best used if it is has previously been frozen and defrosted. This opens up the structure of the tofu and allows the marinade to seep into the tofu completely. So plan ahead. Nowadays I always keep a couple of packets of tofu in the freezer because it really does change the way a marinade gets into tofu and adds flavour. So this step is pretty easy for me.

Ingredients
1 block of extra firm tofu, frozen and defrosted ahead of time.
4 tbsp tamari
4 tbsp fysh or vegan oyster sauce
¼‐½ tsp garlic powder
⅓ tsp (or so) liquid smoke
½ tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp water (if needed)

2 tbsp sesame seed oil

200g jasmine rice (uncooked weight)
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp agave nectar or similar

2 or 3 sheets of nori

Method

1. Drain the tofu and dry it thoroughly. A tea-towel is best here. Then slice it into 4 or 8. I started with 4, but those slices were very large, so I ended up with 8 slices. Ideally you want the tofu about 1-1½cm thick, no more.
2. Add drops of the liquid smoke to both large sides of the sliced tofu. Try for an even coverage without drowning the tofu in liquid smoke.
3. In a flat bowl, that will take all of the tofu in a single layer, mix the following together; tamari, fysh/oyster sauce, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and white pepper.
4. Add the sliced tofu and allow it to marinate for a long as you can. Turn occasionally. The longer you leave it, the more it will get through the tofu and add flavour.
   
5. When about an hour away from serving, cook the rice according to instructions.
6. Whilst the rice is cooking, find a long thin dish and line it with some of baking parchment or foil to act as a mould for the rice. You need enough surface area to sit all the tofu on the top of the rice with the rice about 1-1½cm deep.
7. Drain the cooked rice immediately and mix the rice vinegar and agave nectar into the cooked rice. Now transfer to the prepared container, press down to flatten to about 1-1½ cm and allow to cool.
   
8. Meanwhile, fry off the tofu in the sesame seed oil to crisp up the flat sides.
   
9. I now added the sliced cooked tofu to the rice, used a chopping board to invert the cooking dishes holding the tofu and rice layers and cut the tofu into sensible sized pieces.
   
10. I then cut my nori into thirds, dampened the ends with a little water and placed the rice/tofu slice in the middle. Wrap the nori around the slice and invert so the wrap is underneath. Repeat with each slice.
    

The original recipe comes from this source Vegan Spam Musubi - Cook With Candy

 

[caseydog]

If you have ever eaten cured ham, then you have eaten something close to SPAM. There is not a major difference in flavor.

Using firm tofu, and marinading it as you did should work. I do NOT like nori (it's a texture thing), or tofu (also mostly a texture thing), but that looks pretty much like SPAM Musubi to me.

CD

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

If you have ever eaten cured ham, then you have eaten something close to SPAM. There is not a major difference in flavor.

Using firm tofu, and marinading it as you did should work. I do NOT like nori (it's a texture thing), or tofu (also mostly a texture thing), but that looks pretty much like SPAM Musubi to me.

CD

No, never eaten much meat at all. I couldn't growing up (finances, single mum etc) and when she remarried, I turned veggie almost immediately. I also couldn't digest a lot of it due to medical problems.

I can remember prawns from holidays to Scandinavia and caviar which I doubt it actually was. My brother ate ham a lot, though honey roast was primarily what my Grannie bought for him. And I do remember lamb burgers instead of hamburger. Didn't do hamburger or beef burgers but did do lamb burgers until I was 10 years old. That and steak & kidney pie and being the only kid that liked kidney (free school meals) when I was just starting school at the sum total of meat and fish for me.

BTW freezing tofu and defrosting it radically changes the texture. It goes from a firm 'slime' to almost a sponge like texture with a 'grain'. It even feels different to touch.

 

[Herbaceous]

I’ve tried the freeze then defrost tofu technique, it really does change the texture a bit and make it less spongy.

The one I tried was press, freeze, thaw, and press again. It got a lot of water out of the tofu and make the texture much closer to meat for my tofu nuggets I made with it (which were delicious).

 

[Morning Glory]

I think this dish looks lovely and stylish and a dead ringer for the Hawaiian version.

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

Apparently, so I'm informed, this is a great snack for when you're craving something savoury without the mystery meat content of SPAM.

View attachment 108674

Honestly, I've no idea if it is or not, I've never had spam or anything even vaguely similar. The tofu was salty, the rice was slightly sweet and i think my tofu comes in bigger packets than the blogger's does!

The tofu is best used if it is has previously been frozen and defrosted. This opens up the structure of the tofu and allows the marinade to seep into the tofu completely. So plan ahead. Nowadays I always keep a couple of packets of tofu in the freezer because it really does change the way a marinade gets into tofu and adds flavour. So this step is pretty easy for me.

Ingredients
1 block of extra firm tofu, frozen and defrosted ahead of time.
4 tbsp tamari
4 tbsp fysh or vegan oyster sauce
¼‐½ tsp garlic powder
⅓ tsp (or so) liquid smoke
½ tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp water (if needed)

2 tbsp sesame seed oil

200g jasmine rice (uncooked weight)
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp agave nectar or similar

2 or 3 sheets of nori

Method

1. Drain the tofu and dry it thoroughly. A tea-towel is best here. Then slice it into 4 or 8. I started with 4, but those slices were very large, so I ended up with 8 slices. Ideally you want the tofu about 1-1½cm thick, no more.
2. Add drops of the liquid smoke to both large sides of the sliced tofu. Try for an even coverage without drowning the tofu in liquid smoke.
3. In a flat bowl, that will take all of the tofu in a single layer, mix the following together; tamari, fysh/oyster sauce, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and white pepper.
4. Add the sliced tofu and allow it to marinate for a long as you can. Turn occasionally. The longer you leave it, the more it will get through the tofu and add flavour. View attachment 108675
5. When about an hour away from serving, cook the rice according to instructions.
6. Whilst the rice is cooking, find a long thin dish and line it with some of baking parchment or foil to act as a mould for the rice. You need enough surface area to sit all the tofu on the top of the rice with the rice about 1-1½cm deep.
7. Drain the cooked rice immediately and mix the rice vinegar and agave nectar into the cooked rice. Now transfer to the prepared container, press down to flatten to about 1-1½ cm and allow to cool. View attachment 108676
8. Meanwhile, fry off the tofu in the sesame seed oil to crisp up the flat sides. View attachment 108677
9. I now added the sliced cooked tofu to the rice, used a chopping board to invert the cooking dishes holding the tofu and rice layers and cut the tofu into sensible sized pieces. View attachment 108678
10. I then cut my nori into thirds, dampened the ends with a little water and placed the rice/tofu slice in the middle. Wrap the nori around the slice and invert so the wrap is underneath. Repeat with each slice. View attachment 108674

The original recipe comes from this source Vegan Spam Musubi - Cook With Candy

Holly Cow!
SatNavSaysStraightOn that looks fantastic! I tell'ya, it looks just like one of my favorite snacks/small meals - Spam® Musubi, really!!!

My biggest question to you SatNavSaysStraightOn - Did you enjoy it?