Spam Fried Rice with Oyster Sauce (Cơm Chiên Spam Dầu Hào)

Spam Fried Rice with Oyster Sauce (Cơm Chiên Spam Dầu Hào)

Fried rice is my go-to recipe towards the end of a busy week. By that time, I’m running out of fresh ingredients, and I must resort to whatever protein and vegetables I have on hand. And sometimes I just have SPAM, the meat people love to hate.

My kids, however, absolutely love SPAM. They also love fried rice. When I combine the two, I am God for the day.

This is a quick and easy SPAM fried rice. It’s amazingly delicious that both kids and adults will enjoy. Loaded with veggies, crispy fried cubes of SPAM, fluffy bits of scrambled eggs, and simply flavored with oyster sauce, this recipe only takes a few minutes to put together. Save yourself a trip to the restaurant and have an amazing and simple dinner at home.

Ingredients for Spam fried rice

Common Questions

What if you don’t have day-old rice for fried rice?
Day-old cold rice is recommended, but it’s not a requirement. If you didn’t plan ahead and have old rice in the fridge, you can simply cook up a fresh batch but with15- 20% less water. It will yield the same result. It is the dry rice that we are looking for. Dry rice can withstand high heat when cooking in the wok. Freshly cooked rice won’t work because it would simply turn to mush.

What to do when your rice clumps up?
When adding the day-old rice into the wok and they are in clumps, use a large ladle to help separate the grains. Gently press the bowl-shaped ladle into the rice. This should effectively separate the rice into individual grains without smashing them together.

Spam Fried Rice with Oyster Sauce (Cơm Chiên Spam Dầu Hào)

What can I use as seasonings?
There are many ways to flavor fried rice. I cook fried rice with maggi seasoning sauce, soy sauce, chicken bouillon powder, and sometimes with simple salt and pepper. For this particular recipe, the main seasoning is oyster sauce.

There are many different brands of oyster sauce. My favorite is Lee Kum Kee and they have two types. One is regular oyster sauce and the other is premium oyster sauce. Do yourself a favor and get the premium oyster sauce. Premium has a much better flavor and is not as salty as the regular. And no, it doesn’t taste like oysters.

Other seasonings in this recipe are ground white pepper and toasted sesame oil. Ground white pepper is much milder in flavor than black pepper. It’s best to use for kids who think black pepper is too spicy or wussy adults. If you don’t have white pepper, you can substitute with black pepper.

The toasted sesame oil is a finishing oil. Don’t use sesame oil to fry anything. It will simply burn. Drizzle the sesame oil onto the rice at the end of the cooking for an amazing nutty aroma.

I’m using vegetable oil in the below recipe, but you can replace the vegetable oil with butter for a richer flavor.

Recipe below. Happy cooking!

Spam Fried Rice with Oyster Sauce (Cơm Chiên Spam Dầu Hào)

Spam Fried Rice with Oyster Sauce (Com Chien Spam Dau Hao)

Serves 3

Ingredients

Rice

• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil (divided)
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• Spam (5 ounces; slice into small cubes)
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
• 3 cups day-old cold rice

Seasonings

• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large wok over medium-high heat and swirl to coat the inside surface. Add eggs, swirling them onto the oiled surface. Use a spatula to push the cooked edges towards the center and allow any raw eggs to now move to the empty space. Once eggs are no longer runny, but slightly wet on top, use the spatula to chop it into bite-size pieces. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in the wok. Add Spam cubes, and toss on high heat until crispy and golden brown on all sides (about 3-4 minutes). Add garlic. Toss together with the fried Spam until fragrant (about 15 seconds).
3. Add frozen peas and carrots and cook until no longer frozen (about 1 minute).
4. Add 3 cups day-old cold rice. Gently toss with wok ingredients to combine.
5. Season rice with oyster sauce, white pepper and sesame oil. Cook on high heat, stirring and tossing constantly, about 4-5 minutes.
6. Gently toss in eggs. Drizzle with Sriracha for a spicy kick, if desired.