SPAM Fried Rice

There is no middle ground with SPAM. You either love it or loathe it with passion. I’m in the love it camp and not afraid to show it.

And one of the best uses of SPAM is to put it on fried rice.

The cooking process is deceptively simple but the pre-cooking prep is anything but.

The foundation of any good fried rice is the rice. All the other ingredients (yes, including the SPAM) are merely sideshows to the main event. So, if you’re rice is no good to start with do not expect your fried rice will be any better. You can have the most luxurious ingredients imaginable but without a good rice foundation it’ll just be a wasteful exercise. Good fried rice can be as simple as the traditional Filipino sinangag with nothing but rice, garlic and salt.

There are lots of rice varieties available. Each one has a place in the culinary world. My choice for making fried rice is nothing but Jasmine (Milagrosa). You’ll be able to get away with ordinary long grain rice but it would lack the fragrance unique to Jasmine.

Your rice must also be at least a day old. Freshly cooked rice is sticky and will just turn to paste when fried. Characteristic of good fried rice is that the grains are separate and distinguishable from each other. Leaving your cooked rice in the fridge overnight helps a lot.

You don’t have to have egg in your fried rice. But if you do, remember there are two schools of thought on this. First is the “pre-cooked omelette” version and the other is the “add the raw egg before taking off the heat” variety. I personally like the pre-cooked omelette style. And that’s what I’ll show you here.

SPAM Fried Rice ala Beancounter

The Omelette
2-3 eggs beaten
A pinch of salt
A pinch of white pepper
A few drops of sesame oil
Oil for frying

1. Heat up a large pan. Add a bit of oil.
2. Add the salt, white pepper and sesame oil to the eggs and beat a little bit more.
3. Pour the mixture onto the pan and coat it as thinly as possible.
4. Cook on each side for a couple of minutes.
5. Take off the heat, roll and cut into ribbons.
6. Set aside.


The Fried Rice
3-4 cups of cooked rice (left overnight in the fridge)
Half a can of SPAM diced
2 spring onions chopped
1 clove garlic chopped (optional)
1 carrot diced (into very tiny cubes)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
A pinch of salt
Omelette
A few drops of sesame oil

(Do not limit your vegetable and meat choices to what’s listed. Celery, peas, etc. work really well. BBQ Pork/Roast Pork/Roast Duck from your neighbourhood Chinese BBQ are also excellent options.)

1. To begin with, take your day old rice out of the fridge. Separate the grains of rice by rubbing/crushing with your hands. You might need to moisten your hands with water from time to time to avoid the rice sticking to them.
2. Heat up a pan and add a bit of oil.
3. Stir fry the SPAM for a couple of minutes. Set aside.
4. Sauté the garlic and spring onion, followed soon after by the diced carrot. Add back the SPAM.
5. Add the rice. Stir and make sure everything is mixed well.
6. Add the salt, soy sauce and the oyster sauce. Stir well and make sure they evenly coat the rice. This will take a few minutes.
7. After 10 minutes or so of stirring your fried rice should be almost ready. Add the omelette and a few drops of sesame oil.
8. Serve hot.