Tofu Musubi

Aloha from sunny Hawaii!

If you have ever been to Hawaii, you probably tried a musubi once or twice. A musubi is a form of sushi made with white rice, a thin piece of spam, and wrapped in nori. It has soft rice, savory seaweed, and a salty piece of spam. I use to eat these and really loved them! Since I started eating vegetarian, I tried making a tofu musubi, imagining it would turn out gross. But to the surprise of my family and myself, these tofu musubis do not taste much different than an actual spam musubi!

Recipe:

• 1 block of firm or extra firm tofu
• 2 cups of cooked white sticky rice (brown rice may also be used – see note below)
• Dried sushi seaweed
• 1/2 cup Braggs liquid aminos
• 2 tsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. liquid smoke
• 1 tsp. ground ginger puree
• 1 tsp. minced garlic

1. Press your tofu for 15-30 minutes to get all the unwanted liquid drained from the tofu
2. Mix all the remaining ingredients in a shallow container to marinate your tofu slices
3. Begin by slicing the tofu into thin rectangular pieces that resemble a piece of spam
4. Marinate your tofu for 15 minutes
5. Preheat a skillet on medium high and grease it before adding your slices of tofu
6. Cook each piece until it begins to brown and get slightly crispy. Depending on how thin or thick you cut your tofu, it may take slightly longer to cook.
7. While your tofu is cooking begin prepping to assemble your musubis
8. Lay out a cut piece of seaweed (about 2-3 inches in width, 6-7 inches in length) and place your musubi press on top of it
9. Begin by filling the press with your warm cooked rice and press. You will want at least an inch of evenly pressed rice
10. Next, add your piece of cooked tofu and repeat with a layer of rice and press all together
11. Once you have successfully filled your press with rice and tofu, wrap the seaweed around and seal with small dabs of water
12. Continue this process until you have the amount of musubis you want. I used half a block of tofu and saved the other half.

How I make my brown rice:

Two cups of brown rice, rinse it well, add three cups of water and 1/4 cup of rice vinegar. Cook in a rice pot or on stove.

This recipe is really simple and easy to throw together for a lunch or a snack to take to the beach! I hope you try it out and let me know what you think.

Notes:

• Brown rice is an alternative to white rice. To use brown rice, simply add rice vinegar to the rice before cooking. This method will make the rice stickier and easier to press.