Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

One day I shall opine over tofu. But it’s kind of hard for me to do that in English since tofu yumminess is equated with Korean food. Today, it’s all about SPAM.

At the request of two commenters regarding my remarks about SPAM fried rice, I am posting a recipe and some suggested variations. Remember, I’m a single gal and I dine alone a lot, therefore these are single people portions.

This recipe will use a half can of the half-sized SPAM. Get it? It’s the 7oz can, which my supermarket sells for $1.99 each.

1/2 can of 7oz SPAM Original
2 cups of cooked rice
2 eggs
Butter/oil for cooking
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
Wide or Deep frying pan, either 12″ wide or use an 8″ deep dish omelette pan

1. The first thing to do is cube the SPAM. I pop the meat out of the can by slicing it with a knife near the edge and sort of gouge it out. Then cut it in half crosswise and wrap the remaining half tightly in SaranWrap. It’ll keep in the fridge for a day or two. (I’ll suggest something to do with it later.) Cube to any size you like. I tend to cube it very small.

2. In the pan, saute the onion in some oil. Add in the SPAM cubes and heat through. Turn down the heat a little here, or turn off the pan completely.

3. Scoop rice on top of the onion mixture. Now crack the eggs in to a measuring cup and beat them slightly. Pour over the rice and turn the heat back on. Gently fold the rice into the onion mixture and let the egg cook. Don’t stir it too much or else you’ll have rice all over the range top. Make sure the rice is well coated with egg and incorporated with the lovely SPAM.

4. When the egg is cooked to your liking, remove from the heat and serve. This is usually enough for 2 bowls. I eat one for dinner and save the other one for breakfast or packed lunch. It nukes up really easy in the microwave in a minute to 90 seconds.

This is a really generic base recipe and you can use it to do a lot more. I purposely did not list any seasonings since that can change the flavor and the cuisine of it.

Variations:

Other vegetables, chopped - Add any other vegetables you like here, carrot, broccoli, bell pepper, etc. Leftovers work great if they aren’t too mushy. Crisp texture works well here. I would chop stuff pretty small.

Asian style - Saute the onion with garlic. Add soy sauce and sesame oil over the rice after you’ve taken it off the heat.

Western style - Add capers. Weird. I know. I love capers and in a fit of desperation once, I added them because they were the only seasoning left in the pantry.

Indian - Sprinkle some curry powder or garam masala on it.

There are variations in cooking it too. When I was a kid, I’d just do eggs and rice with SPAM. When I did that, I’d melt a lot of butter in the pan, dump in the rice, stir it up so the rice was well coated, then crack the eggs on top. It changes the texture if you coat the rice in fat first.

You could also crack the eggs over the onion mixture and then add the rice, so it’s more like a frittata and rice. Or make a well in the rice and then put in the eggs. That’s if you like bigger eggy bits, which isn’t my preference.

As for the rest of the can?
Slice into 1/4 inch thick slices. Pan fry till browned. Make some white toast. Fry an egg. Make a sandwich with the egg and SPAM. Serve with either ketchup or maple syrup. I swear, the syrup is amazing. I think I read about this in a trashy food cookbook. It’s delicious.

Do not keep the leftover uncooked SPAM in the fridge for very long. It doesn’t hold up well after about 72 hours. Trust me on that one. Make sure wrap it tightly too. It oxides/dries out easily.

You guys are so weird for eating what I eat. I’m serious. Tell me if you do the caper variation.