Spam fried rice
Crispy golden cubes of Spam, fluffy egg and peas tossed with rice and soy sauce, the Hawaiian favorite made from a can and a couple of pouches.
- 25 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.53 a serving
- 630 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 12 oz spam, 1 can
- 4 stalks green onions
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 large eggs
- 2 packages microwave rice pouches, unheated
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 tsp sesame oil
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 630 calories, 23 g protein, 51 g carbs and 37 g fat, and costs about $2.53 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No frozen peas? Frozen mixed vegetables work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Cut the Spam into ½-inch . the green onions, keeping the white and green parts apart, the garlic, and beat the eggs in a small bowl.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Squeeze the rice pouches with your hands to break up the clumps without opening them.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large over medium-high.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heat
Cook the Spam 5 to 6 minutes, turning now and then, until and on most sides.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 6 min
Dolly’s tip: Leave the cubes alone for a minute at a time. Spam browns beautifully if you let it.Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Scoop it onto a plate.
Pour the eggs into the pan and stir gently for 1 to 2 minutes, until just set. Add them to the Spam plate.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Add the rest of the oil, the green onion whites, garlic and peas and 2 minutes.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Add the rice, spread it out, and let it sit 1 minute before stirring. Keep going for about 5 minutes, until hot with some crisp grains.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper, Spam and eggs, and 1 to 2 minutes, until evenly colored and hot.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Dolly’s tip: Spam is already salty, so taste before you add more soy sauce.Scatter the green onion tops over the rice and serve.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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