Spam and Zucchini Fried Rice
Get your kids to eat their veggies with this tasty fried rice that is so hearty it is a meal in itself.
Equipment
- 1 large cutting board
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 medium bowl
- measuring cups and spoons
- 1 fork or whisk
- 1 10" stainless steel saute pan optional
- 1 5 Quart pan or 11" chicken fryer or wok
Ingredients
- 1 12-ounce can Spam Lite
- ½ large onion diced
- 2 small carrots or 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 medium zucchini diced
- 5 large eggs
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 ¼ tbsp granulated garlic
- ⅛ cup sesame oil
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- ⅛ cup kimchi optional (increase as you get used to spicier foods)
- 5 cups cold cooked brown rice Genji Mai preferred, or white rice
- ⅛ cup soy sauce
- ⅛ cup oyster sauce
Instructions
- Dice the onions, carrots, and zucchini. Set aside.
- Cut the Spam Lite into cubes. Set aside.
- Crack the eggs into a medium bowl. Add salt, ground black pepper, and granulated garlic. Mix well with a fork or whisk until well combined. Set aside.
- Heat a 10”-stainless-steel saute pan to medium heat for your scrambled eggs. Skip this step if cooking the eggs in the same pan or wok as the fried rice.
- Heat a large 5-quart pan or 11” chicken fryer pan or wok on medium high heat. Add the sesame oil, onions, carrots, and zucchini to the pan and stir immediately so the sesame oil doesn’t burn. Cook the vegetables for 2 to 3 minutes until the onions start to soften.
- Add the Spam Lite and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the vegetables are cooked to your desired softness.
- While the vegetables and Spam are cooking, add the olive oil to the saute pan and the eggs. Cook the eggs for about 2 minutes until almost cooked through. If cooking the eggs in the same pan as the fried rice, skip this step.
- Add the rice, soy sauce, and oyster sauce (and kimchi if using) to the pan and mix well. Break up large clumps of rice and make sure all the grains of rice are coated.
- If cooking eggs in the same pan, push the rice to the cooler part of your pan and add the eggs to the hotter part of your pan and cook the eggs for about 2 minutes until almost cooked through.
- Mix the eggs into the rice until it is evenly distributed. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Tips and Tricks
Can I use regular brown rice?
If you don’t have Genji Mai brown rice, I recommend using medium grain white rice. Most brown rice out there has a very hard exterior and doesn’t provide the ideal texture for fried rice. If you mostly care about taste, you can use leftover brown rice.
What about freshly cooked rice?
I know sometimes we just want fried rice immediately. However, using freshly cooked rice results in a mushy fried rice.
For the same reason that leftover brown rice is too hard, a fried rice with freshly cooked brown rice might result in a great texture. I’ve never tried it, so let me know how it works out for you if you decide to try freshly cooked brown rice.
What other meat or protein can be used?
Fried rice is versatile so many leftover meats, such as breakfast meats, steak, or roast pork, work well. Make it lighter with shrimp or chicken seasoned with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic, and cut into 1-inch chunks. For a vegetarian option, shelled edamame is a great addition.