Inspired by my last trip to Hawaii, I decided to make some pretty epic musubis. I wanted to add a little Filipino pizzazz by using longanisa and tocino instead of your usual spam or tamago. And for even MORE razzle dazzle, I decided to deep fry those bad boys because why not?

I was kind of nervous to tackle on this kitchen venture, but it was actually easier than I thought. The videos that I posted on social media are a quick run down on how I made them, but you will find the full recipe below!

Ingredients

• Sushi Rice – I found a simple sushi rice recipe here. It was actually my first time making it! I used the leftover rice to make a sushi bake. I still haven’t decided if I want to post that recipe yet haha.
• One package tocino (I used pork, my fave!!)
• One package longanisa (Also pork!)
• Big sheets of nori like the ones you would use for sushi
• Bachan’s Japanese BBQ Sauce (So good, they also have a gluten-free version!)
• Musubi maker (The one I got comes with a slicer, but I didn’t use it)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups panko crumbs
• vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

1. Make the sushi rice according to the above recipe.
2. While you’re working on the rice, you can start by cooking the longanisa. In a pan, you’ll boil the longanisa in water until cooked, usually ten minutes. Remember to poke them with a knife to get those extra oils out.
3. Once cooked, you’ll fry them in the pan. No need to add oil since there’s a lot of oil that come out of the longanisa themselves. Once cooled, I cut them in half lengthwise.
4. Next you’ll cook the tocino the same way that you cooked the longanisa, but no need to poke them.
5. Time for the fun part! Lay down your nori on a flat surface and place the musubi mold on top. Make sure the nori is as wide as your musubi maker so that it can hold everything together. Then fill the mold with rice halfway, using the musubi press to flatten, and drizzle some Bachan’s sauce.
6. Then add either two halves of longanisa or cut up pieces of tocino. Add a little bit more rice and flatten it out with the press.
7. Lift the mold and tightly wrap the nori around the rice. Use water to secure the nori.
8. Once you have finished making the musubis, you’ll put one bowl with flour, one bowl with eggs, and one with panko crumbs.
9. Cover the musubi with flour, then egg, and then the panko crumbs. Repeat as needed for each musubi.
10. Heat a few inches of oil in a pot. When ready, fry the musubis until golden brown. Repeat as needed.

These deep fried musubis are so bomb when they’re warm and fresh! They hold up pretty well for the next 1-2 days. They taste just as fresh when you air fry them for 5 minutes. 🙂

Here’s a quick video if you need a visual!