Spam & Eggs

I know, I know, SPAM? Again?

SPAM eggs and rice is said to be the most popular breakfast in Hawaii. Hawaii leads the U.S. in consumption meat product, a leftover from the fresh meat lean WWII days. So popular is "Hawaiian Steak" (Hawaiians consume six cans per capita a year) that even the big junk food chains have re-created regional favorites that use SPAM and offer them on their menus. SPAM masubi, available almost everywhere, is perhaps one of the most famous of the Hawaiian SPAM dishes.

One of the reasons for SPAM's popularity on the islands is probably at least partially due to its preparation. In Hawaii, rather than just plopping raw cold spam between two slices of wonder bread, SPAM in Hawaii is thoroughly cooked, often grilled. Thinly sliced, and pan fried for a crispy outside, salty SPAM becomes more like bacon than mushy, pink, canned meat product.

The preparation is as simple as it is tasty. All you need is a cup of cooked white rice per serving, scrambled eggs and a couple thin slices of SPAM fried on medium-heat in a non-stick skillet until crispy brown. Try it. It might surprise you.

Mushroom Rice Soup

2 cup chicken broth
1 cup hot water
2 dried shitake mushrooms
1 tbp lemon juice
1 tbp soy sauce
1 tsp Mirin cooking wine
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup cubed tofu
1 green onion chopped

Soak the dried shitakes in the hot water for about 20 minutes. Strain and save the water and chop the mushrooms. Boil the chicken broth, mushroom water, lemon juice, soy, Mirin. When boiling turn down to medium and add the rice, mushrooms and tofu and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the green onion and serve.

Serves 2

Tamago Spam Musubi

I know what you're thinking...Spam? Well, that's what I thought too, until I tried this salty/sweet Hawaiian snack and became an instant fan. Don't knock it till you try it. You might be pleasantly suprised.

This dish is a variation that includes a bit of Japanese omelet. To enjoy the original version, just leave off the Tamago.

For the Tamago
2 eggs
1/4 tsp dashi dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water
1/4 tsp Mirin
1/4 tsp sugar
2 dashes soy sauce
1 tsp vegetable oil

Beat the eggs with the dashi stock, mirin, sugar and soy. Heat a medium non-stick skillet on medium low heat. Pour in 1/4 of the egg mixture rolling the pan to create a thin omelet. When the egg just sets, roll the egg into about a two inch wide omlete and flatten with the spatula. Push the omelet to the edge of the skillet and add another 1/4 of the egg mixture holding the bottom of the omelet up so the mixture gets underneath the omelet. When the new layer is set roll the old omelet within the new omelet and flatten. Repeat this process till the egg mixture is used up. When done, the Tamago should look something like this.


Cut the Tamago into four pieces about the same size as your Spam slices. Now for the Spam part.

3 cups cooked white rice
4 slices Spam
4 strips of nori cut into approx 2 inch strips
2 tbsp oyster sauce
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Mirin
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp vegetable oil

Turn the skillet up to medium heat. Fry the Spam in the vegetable oil until the edges are crispy brown and remove. For the sauce, combine the oyster and soy sauce, Mirin and sugar and stir until dissolved.

On a cutting board lay a strip of nori and place the sushi mold crossed in the center of the nori strip. Add 1/4 of the rice and press firmly with the mold press. When the rice is firm, reduce the pressure on the press abit while you lift the box to remove the rice.

Place a piece of tamago and a piece of sushi on top of the rice. Now gently wrap the nori around the assembled Musubi, which your rice should still be sitting on completely around the rice, tamago and Spam. Join the Nori ends with a dab of water.

Repeat process until you have four Musubi. Pour the sauce on top of each piece.

Serves 2

Congee

Essentially a rice porridge, congee, also frequently called jook, is eaten under many different names and variations throughout South-East Asia and is often served for breakfast. In China it is zuk. In Japan, kayu or shiragayu. In Korea, juk or chuk. In India, ganji. In Vietnam, cháo. In Indonesia, bubur.

Throughout the region it is recognised as comfort food. Being mild and easily digestible, it is the first solid food served to babies and shares the same restorative reputation as chicken soup does in the United States. Ingredients to treat illness are often added to congee in Chinese medicine therapies but it is by no means just a food for the ill or infants.

The ingredients added to the congee are even more varied than the names it's given throughout Asia. Given it's completely neutral flavor unseasoned, congee takes on the flavor of the ingredients added to it. There are both sweet and savory variations. The limit to what can go in congee is only restrained by your imagination and the contents of your refrigerator. Vegetables, both pickled and fresh, eggs, lettuce, fish, roe, miso, chicken, pork, soup stock, seafood as well as fruit, sugar, chutney and spices makes each bowl a distinct and new experience. I've even used leftover sushi.


I chose to make this particular congee with a little diced ham and some green onions. For a more savory congee a cup of chicken stock may be substituted for each cup of water. Feel free to experiment or add spices or condiments.

I've also tried scrambled eggs and finely chopped onions. I've also made a chicken, shitake mushrooms and green onions congee.

1/2 Cup washed long grain white rice
6 Cups water (May substitute 2 cups chicken broth for two cups of the water)
Pinch Salt
1 cup ham diced
2 green onions diced
Dash of soy sauce if desired.
Salt to taste.

In a medium to large pot bring the rice to a boil on high heat, stirring occassionally. When it comes to a boil, Turn down to low heat just below a simmer, put the lid on the pot slightly off-center to allow some of the steam to escape and cook for 1 and 1/2 hours, stirring every few minutes or so.

When the congee reaches a porridge-like consistency add the ingredients or allow guests to choose from a variety of ingredients and add it themselves.

Serves 2-4 Depending on if used as a main course or a dish of a multiple course breakfast.

Kedgeree

This is my variation on the English version of the Indian dish Khichdi. This version is intended for breakfast but is good for lunch or dinner too. It's a quick and tasty use for leftover chicken or fish, lentils and rice from last night's dinner.

1 cup flaked whitefish (I've also used chicken, diced)
1 cup cooked lentils
2 cups cold, cooked rice
2 hardboiled eggs, chopped
2 Tbsp Canola oil
½ Onion diced
1 clove minced garlic
1 bay leaf
½ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp cumin
¼ tsp coriander
dash cinnamon
¼ tsp cumin
Fresh ground pepper
1 green onion chopped
Water
Fresh Parsley sprigs.

Heat oil in wok or large skillet on medium high heat. Saute the onion until transparent but not browned. Add garlic and stir in the spices, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Add the rice and stir to coat the rice evenly with the oil and spices. Add the lentils and meat and cook over medium heat stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes or until heated through and slightly browned and add the green onions and toss. Add a little water throughout the process until you reach a consistency you like. Some people like it almost like a soup, but I like this mine drier. Plate on a large plate or shallow bowl. Sprinkle egg on top, garnish with the parsley.

Serves 4

Tamago Miso Soup

This breakfast soup takes it's influence from tamago sushi.

1 tsp dashi
2 tsp miso
3 cups water
1 cup steamed white rice
1/2 cup extra-firm tofu cubed (1/2in)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp of butter
4 approx. 3 inch rectangular pieces of nori seaweed.
1 green onion, diced

Boil the water in a sauce pan. When the water comes to a boil, turn down the heat to simmer and add the dashi. Put a splash of the hot water in a bowl and mash the miso into the water until it's disolved and return to the pot. Simmer on low heat. Don't boil.

Beat the egg with the sugar and soy and pour into very lightly buttered pre-heated small (8") non-stick skillet on medium-low heat. Swirl the egg in the pan to create a round omelete. When the bottom is firm but the top is not quite set, gently fold one end the omelete over every two inches so you've got about 4 layers. Press lightly down on the omelet to flatten and cook until the inside is done and the outside is just lightly brown. Cut the omelete into four pieces. Top each egg piece with the nori. Set aside.

Add the rice to the pot of simmering miso and heat briefly. Place tofu into each serving bowl and pour in the soup, topping with the two pieces of tamago and nori. Garnish with green onion.

Serves 2

Rice Omelet

This particular dish was inspired by the 1985 Japanese film Tampopo, from a scene in which a homeless gourmet whips up a rice omelet in a "borrowed" restaurant kitchen.

1/4 Onion, diced
1/4 Bell pepper, diced
1/2 Cooked chicken, chopped
2 White mushrooms, chopped
1 Cup steamed white rice
1 Tbsp ketchup
2 Dashes soy sauce
1 Tbsp Canola oil
1 Tsp butter
4 Eggs

In a saute pan, cook the onion and bell pepper in the oil on medium heat until just beginning to brown and onion is transluscent. Turn down to low heat. Now add the chicken, mushrooms, white rice, ketchup, soy sauce and a dash of salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Set aside.

Ready a medium non-stick skillet on medium-low heat with just a tiny bit of butter to help keep the egg from sticking. Beat an egg and add to the skillet when the butter is starts to bubble. Tilt and move the beaten egg around in the skillet until you have a thin, even, round omelet.

When the egg is firm, but not burned on the bottom, and just beginning to set on the top, add 1/4 of the filling in the middle of the omelet in a rough row, oriented up/down on the egg. Now, gently, very gently pick up one side of the omelet with a spatula and lay that side of the omelet on the filling, then using the spatula to cradle the bottom of the omelet, gently roll the omelet to the other side to form a burrito-like rolled omelet. Pat gently flat with the spatula and plate. Repeat process for each egg, adding a little butter if it looks like the skillet needs it.

Plate with two of the omelets and garnish the top with a few dabs of ketchup.

Serves 2.