Spam Rice

Spam rice is a simple dish made from canned Spam filled up with rice, veggies and eggs, which can be enjoyed as a snack. With the Spam being a little salty, savoury and sweet, almost similar to a ham, the filling balances the salt from the Spam, making it more pleasurable to eat. The Spam rice can be eaten as a snack or appetizer together with your favorite dipping sauces.

SPAM RICE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Spam (or any meatloaf)
• 1 cup rice
• ¾ cup corn
• ¾ cup carrots
• ¼ cup spring onions
• ¾ cups spam (chopped)
• 3 pieces eggs
• 1 medium sized onion (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon green bell peppers (chopped)
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• Oil for frying

Directions:

1. Open up the can of Spam (or any meatloaf). Divide it into 4 large rectangles (based on your desired thickness). Cut out the middle part to make a frame like shape. Chop the leftover spam into tiny bits and transfer them to a bowl. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, add the cup of rice, corn, chopped spam, carrots, spring onions, green bell peppers, onions and eggs. Season with some salt and pepper to taste. Mix until well combined.
3. Heat some oil in a flat pan. Fry the Spam frames. Flip to cook the other side. When both sides are cooked, add a scoop of the rice mixture on the center of each frame. Flatten them a bit using a spoon. Allow it to cook for a few minutes. Then, flip to cook the other side.
4. Place the cooked spam rice to a paper towel to drain excess oil.
5. Transfer the spam rice to your kid’s baunan or in a serving plate. Enjoy this as it is and prepare your favorite dipping sauce! Yum!

WHAT IS SPAM?

Spam is a type of meatloaf produced by the Hormel Corporation. This brand of meat loaf is popular not only in the country, but worldwide. We are lucky because this brand is sold only in 44 countries! This meat loaf have its distinct level of savour with the proper blend of just 6 ingredients! (mashed up pork, water, salt, potato starch, sugar and sodium nitrate). This brand was known to have been first made for the soldiers during the World War I due to its longer shelf life and easy packaging.

There were several myths on how this meatloaf got its name. The first one was it is the abbreviation of “Spiced Ham” and the other myth said that it stands for “Scientifically Processed Animal Matter”. While we still don’t know the real reason how this meat loaf got its name, Spam is still enjoyed in different dishes, and mostly as viand.

While Spam has gained popularity as a food, canned meats in general is frowned upon due to its high sodium. A 56 gram serving of the Spam is approximately 174 calories. If you consumed the whole can of Spam classic on your own, you already consumed 1080 calories.

If you are conscious with the calories and sodium, there is a healthier variation of Spam, the Spam Lite, which is said to have 33% less calories, 50% less fat and 25% less sodium.

If you are more on the cheese flavor, there is also a the Spam with cheese variety. Other variations include turkey flavor, hot and spicy, hickory smoke, bacon flavor, tocino, teriyaki, chorizo and jalapeno, but most of them are not available in the country.

SPAM RICE

Spam is one of the most convenient canned food to prepare. Among the other brands of meat loafs, Spam has the right amount of salt, sweetness and savoury flavors, where all you needed to do was to fry (or re-heat) it and it’s already good to go!

While Spam is enjoyable to consume plainly with rice, I tried to level up the experience and have it in another way. Instead of serving it with boiled rice, I made it into frames which has a space to put some rice and veggies in the middle. My niece is a big fan of Spam and she always want to make papak of it. With this recipe, she can consume rice and veggies without knowing! As this dish is served in slices, you can serve this as a snack or an appetizer.

If you wanna know how to make Spam rice at home, read and follow the simple steps below. Happy cooking!

HOW TO MAKE SPAM RICE

Making some Spam rice is truly amazing and fascinating. I bet this recipe is super unique so make sure to read and follow the easy steps below!

If you’re thinking about the trending Spam musubi, this recipe is a different one. Instead of simply putting the Spam over the rice, or have it the classic way of eating it as an ulam, this Spam rice recipe will join the Spam and the rice into one layer, giving you the enjoyment of eating them in one bite.

To start with the recipe, prepare your meatloaf first. I used Spam in this recipe but you can actually use the meatloaf of your choice which will fit your budget (since Spam is a little pricey– but yummy!). Our first goal for this recipe is to make Spam frames. Open up your can of Spam, and then slice them into rectangles. The thickness of the slices depends on you but I recommend around half an inch size. Using this measurement, you can make around 4 to 5 slices from 1 can. Gently make a smaller rectangle on the inside of the slice, and gently remove them and set aside.

Cut the leftover Spam into tiny bits. This will be added to the filling. For the filling, simply combine the rest of the recipes and season a little. Just be cautious when adding salt since the Spam is already salty.

Our last goal is to fry the Spam frames and then fill them up with the rice mixture. Once both sides are cooked, transfer them to a serving dish and consume immediately.

I really love my Spam rice more like a snack than a meal. I sometimes put them in a skewer, drizzle some mayo and ketchup and then it’s good to go! You can also try this with a variety of dipping sauces! Yum!

COOKING TIPS

• I used the classic Spam for this recipe but if you want a less salty one, you can use the Spam Lite or less sodium, or if you want a cheesy one, you can use the Spam with cheese.
• Instead of chopping your veggies, you can use the frozen mixed veggies (corn, green peas and carrots) for convenience.
• To make more servings, you can opt to slice the Spam into squares instead of rectangles.

Spam Rice Recipe (TAGALOG)

Mga Sangkap:

• 2 lata Spam (o meatloaf)
• 1 tasang kanin
• ¾ tasang mais
• ¾ tasang carrots
• ¼ tasang spring onions
• ¾ tasang Spam (hiniwa)
• 3 pirasong itlog
• 1 sibuyas (hiniwa)
• 1 kutsarang green bell peppers (hiniwa)
• Asin
• paminta
• Mantika (pang prito)

Directions:

1. Buksan ang lata ng Spam (o kahit anong meatloaf). Hatiin ito sa apat na rectangles (depende kung gaano kakapal mo ito gusto). Alisin ang gitna nito para magmukang frame. Hiwain ang nakuhang spam ng maliliit at ilipat sa isang bowl. Isantabi.
2. Kumuha ng malaking bowl at paghaluin ang kanin, mais, hiniwang Spam, carrots, spring onions, green bell peppers, sibuyas at itlog. Timplahan ito ng asin at paminta. Haluing mabuti.
3. Magpainit ng mantika sa flat na kawali. Iprito ang mga Spam frames. Baliktarin ang mga ito para maluto ang kabilang side. Kapag luto na, maglagay ng isang scoop ng rice mixture. Medyo iflat ito gamit ang kutsara. Hayaan itong maluto ng ilang minuto bago baliktarin.
4. Ilipat ang mga spam rice sa paper towel para tumulo ang sobrang mantika.
5. Ilipat ang mga spam rice sa baunan ng mga bata o sa serving plate. Enjoyin ito kasama ng iyong favorite sawsawan. Yum!