These spam rice balls are the perfect snack to satisfy your cravings. Made with sticky rice and chunks of bite-sized spam, simply pop them in your mouth or pack them to-go for a delicious meal!
What are Spam Rice Balls?
These spam rice balls were inspired by a delicious Korean snack called jumeok-bap, which are sticky rice balls mixed with all kinds of proteins and seasonings. It’s also very similar to onigiri, another sticky Japanese rice dish that’s easy-to-eat and incredibly portable for a quick snack or picnic.
Spam rice balls consists of dicing up spam into tiny cubes, seasoning it with soy sauce, sugar, and sake, and then letting it caramelize in the pan until sticky. We then mix the spam along with our rice and extra seasonings before rolling them into bite-sized balls that’s perfect for popping them in your mouth!
My favorite way to pack these are in airtight tupperware containers and eating them for lunch or snack breaks. Give them a try and let me know in the comments how they turn out! 🙂
Ingredients for Spam Rice Balls
- Short-grain rice: Like sushi rice, these kinds of rice are more sticky given their extra starch content. You’ll want the short-grain variety of rice if you want the balls to be able to hold their shape and stick together properly.
- Roasted seaweed, furikake, toasted sesame seeds, kewpie mayonnaise: These will be the seasonings for our rice balls. The seaweed adds a perfect umami flavor to the rice, the furikake and sesame seeds lend a subtle crunch, while the mayonnaise acts as a binder to help everything stick together.
- Spam: The star protein of this dish. We’ll be using about ~125 g of spam for this recipe, which is around 3-4 slices of spam.
- Soy sauce, sugar, sake: These will be the simple seasonings for our spam. Since spam is already naturally salty, we’ll just be putting a touch of soy sauce into the mix.
Instructions
Begin by cooking your short-grain rice over a stove top or a rice cooker. Once cooked, measure 2 cups of the cooked rice and *spread the rice over a plate to cool completely. Set aside.
*Using cooled rice for this recipe is essential, since it will help in shaping them into balls easier.
Over medium heat, saute the diced spam for about 5-10 minutes until browned and lightly crispy.
*Little to no oil is needed for this step since spam naturally releases fats upon frying. Excess grease can prevent the balls from sticking properly and cause crumbling!
Mix together the soy sauce, sugar, and sake in a separate bowl until combined. Pour this over the crispy spam cubes and continue to cook until the sauce caramelizes and coats the spam. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine together the cooled rice, caramelized spam, roasted seaweed, furikake, toasted sesame seeds, and kewpie mayo. Gently mix all the ingredients together.
Shape the rice into small balls about 1-2 tbsps in size. Be sure to squeeze and pack the rice tightly to prevent them from crumbling. You should end up with around 12-15 rice balls in the end.
Sprinkle the tops of the rice balls with more sesame seeds or furikake. Serve at room temperature or slightly cold. Enjoy!
Want more tasty and easy snack ideas? Check out these recipes:
- Spicy Enoki Mushrooms
- Tamago Sando (Japanese Egg Sandwich)
- Kinilaw (Filipino Ceviche)
- Vietnamese Pizza
Spam Rice Balls
Course: Appetizer, SnacksCuisine: Japanese, KoreanThese spam rice balls are the perfect snack to satisfy your cravings. Made with sticky rice and chunks of bite-sized spam, simply pop them in your mouth or pack them to-go for a delicious meal!
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Ingredients
2 cups cooked short-grain rice (leftover rice works great for this!)
6 -8 sheets roasted seaweed, cut into strips
1 tbsp furikake
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tsp kewpie mayonnaise
125 g spam, diced
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp sake (can substitute with white cooking wine or water)
Directions
- *Begin by cooking your short-grain rice over a stove top or a rice cooker. Once cooked, measure 2 cups of the cooked rice and spread the rice over a plate to cool completely. Set aside.
- *Over medium heat, saute the diced spam for about 5-10 minutes until browned and lightly crispy.
- Mix together the soy sauce, sugar, and sake in a separate bowl until combined. Pour this over the crispy spam cubes and continue to cook until the sauce caramelizes and coats the spam. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine together the cooled rice, caramelized spam, roasted seaweed, furikake, toasted sesame seeds, and kewpie mayo. Gently mix all the ingredients together.
- Shape the rice into small balls about 1-2 tbsps in size. Be sure to squeeze and pack the rice tightly to prevent them from crumbling. You should end up with around 12-15 rice balls in the end.
- Sprinkle the tops of the rice balls with more sesame seeds or furikake. Serve at room temperature or slightly cold. Enjoy!
Notes
- 1. Using cooled rice for this recipe is essential, since it will help in shaping them into balls easier.
- 2. Little to no oil is needed for this step since spam naturally releases fats upon frying. Excess grease can prevent the balls from sticking properly and cause crumbling!
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