What's so bad about SPAM anyway?

It's old news, I know, but I was irked how carnival cruise lines denied the fact that their passengers were served SPAM. I get how it can be gross out of the can, but why deny it? I'm in love with spam, but it's probably mostly because I'm Filipino and I grew up on this stuff. Let's just put it this way, SPAM is as common a site to Asians as pickles are to hamburgers for Americans. We love this stuff, and we know the majority of mainland America is boggled by it. Hawaii loves it. I'm still boggled by jars and jars of gigantic pickled cucumber, so I understand why it's so freaky.

Spam is so versatile though, there's spamburgers, grilled cheese and spam, and the classic fried rice, eggs and spam. I'm usually a particularly healthy shopper going with mostly organic, but I do cave. I cave for 3 things, longganisa (which are Filipino breakfast sausages), red hotdogs (again, an oddity of Filipino grocery items) and SPAM.

Since part of me was offended by the Carnival Spamcation denial, I had to celebrate the deliciousness that shoulder pork ham is. Also, I had Chinese steam noodles (which highly resemble Japanese soba noodles, which could be the same) that needed to be used. I made Spam Saimin. It's also a quick lunch and I needed to feed the hungry boys. I was crocheting the whole day and lost track of time. Quickie lunches are the best.

If you've never tried Spam, you might want to give this a try. What's the worst that can happen? Ha, yeah, you just ate shoulder pork ham. It's good and you know it, don't even deny it. 

Spam Saimin

4 cups of chicken stock

2 cups of water

1 package Chinese steamed noodles or Japanese soba noodles

1 tsp grated ginger

2-3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp fish sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

1 romaine lettuce chopped into small pieces

3 spring onions, bias-sliced

1 can of spam lite (I like it better because it's not as overpowering as regular spam, unless you like all the sodium goodness. I like to believe I'm bettering myself), chopped into 1/2 inch cubes

*other additions can be scrambled eggs, tofu, chicken, mushrooms, peas (it's really a find what's in the pantry meal)

In a pot, combine stock, water, noodles, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, pepper and lettuce. Bring pot to boiling stage or just until the noodles are tender. Taste to see if it's salty enough, either add more soy sauce, fish sauce or salt. Don't make it too salty though because remember, Spam is salty on its own.

In another pan, preferably a non-stick pan, brown the spam. You'll see a golden brown glisten to it. That's when you know it's done.

To assemble, place noodles and broth in a bowl. Top it with fried spam and spring onions. Then you'll realize you just fell in-love with Spam. You'll either love me or hate me for this.

*I dedicate this entry to my friend Lisa, whom I have both disturbed and amazed by the foreign substance, Spam.