Get excited about your school or work lunchbox with this kawaii Piggy Spam Musubi Bento recipe. Wildly popular in Hawaii, these adorable nori wraps with Japanese rice and luncheon meat are so easy to prepare. You can get your kids to help out, too!
Gather all the ingredients. For the steamed rice, please note that ¾ cup (1 rice cooker cup, 180 ml) of uncooked Japanese short-grain rice yields 2¼ cups (330 g) of cooked rice. See how to cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, pot over the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe.
Cut 3 slices SPAM® (7 oz). Add ½ Tbsp neutral oil to a frying pan and cook the spam until lightly browned on both sides.
Line the spam tin with plastic wrap. Divide 1½ cups cooked Japanese short-grain rice into 3 portions. Scoop one portion of cooked rice into the tin and gently press down on the rice until it sticks together.
Pull out the plastic wrap and remove it from the tin. Place a slice of spam on the rice.
From 1 sheet nori (dried laver seaweed) sheet, cut out a strip of nori and wrap it around the spam-and-rice sandwich.
Use a punch or a pair of scissors to cut out the pig’s eyes and nostrils from the nori sheet.
Cut out an oval shape from 1 slice ham for the pig’s snout. Then, cut out six smaller ovals for the pig’s ears and feet. Cut out an inverted “V” at the edges of four of the ovals to form the cloven hooves.
Place the ham and nori shapes on the spam.
Use small pieces of 1 noodle spaghetti (dried) to secure the ham onto the spam. Continue making the rest of the musubi. Then, pack the spam musubi into the bento box. Enjoy!