Appetizers / Snacks

1. To make the fried garlic chips, heat 3 tbsp of canola oil in a small pan over medium heat. Once it is hot (you can check if it's ready by putting in one small slice of garlic to see if it sizzles), throw in the thinly sliced garlic and fry for about 1-2 minutes, or until slightly golden brown. Quickly remove from heat and set aside on a strainer or kitchen paper to cool.

2. To make the sauce, dissolve 1 1/2 tsp of dashi powder in 1 tbsp of hot water in a small bowl. Add in the soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic powder and combine well. Set aside.

3. Beat the eggs in a bowl and set aside.

4. In a large wok or frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of canola oil and 1 tbsp unsalted butter over medium high heat. Once the butter is melted and started bubbling, add in the chopped garlic and stir-fry until the garlic is tender and fragrant. Add in the crushed cayenne pepper and stir-fry for about 15 seconds. Add in the cooked white rice, mix well and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the sauce mixture and mix well until well combined and the rice is uniformly coated with the sauce. Stir-fry for another minute and push all the rice towards one side of the wok or pan. Throw in the beaten eggs into the empty side of the pan and let cook for about 30 seconds. Once the eggs are about 3/4 cooked, scramble it and combine with the fried rice and mix well. Season with salt and sugar and mix well. Remove from heat.

5. To serve, transfer fried rice into a large bowl and top with fried garlic chips and chopped chives.

1. To make the filling, in a bowl, combine the ground beef, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, brown sugar, white pepper, salt, cornstarch and chopped onions and mix well.

2. Heat 1 tbsp of canola oil in a frying pan over medium high heat and add in the ground beef mixture. Stir-fry and cook while also breaking the ground beef into little, separate pieces with the edge of a spatula. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until the beef is fully cooked and the onions are tender. Remove from heat, transfer to a large mixing bowl, and let cool for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the chopped pickles and chopped tomatoes into the bowl of ground beef filling and mix well.

4. To assemble a spring roll, lay a spring roll wrapper on a flat, clean surface as pictured. Add 2 tbsp of the ground beef filling mixture and spread it evenly along the lower side of the wrapper, as pictured.

   

5. Sprinkle some cheddar cheese evenly on top of the filling, as pictured.

   

6. Roll the wrapper starting from the bottom corner, up towards the filling and tuck the bottom corner tight underneath the filling, as pictured.

   

7. Continue rolling tightly until about halfway up the wrapper. Fold in the left and right sides of the wrapper towards the center, as pictured. Make sure it is well folded for a tighter, clewaner spring roll.

   

8. Wet the upper corner with a little bit of room temperature water. Continue rolling the wrapper tightly up towards the upper corner, as pictured. The water in the upper corner of the wrapper should help you seal the spring roll.

   

9. Repeat steps 4 to 8 for each spring roll until all the fillings are used. You can also use more cheese if you prefer it more cheesy.

10. Heat oil in a deep pan or frying pot over medium heat. Add enough oil to be able to submerge and deep fry the spring rolls. Once the oil is hot enough (you can test by dipping a wooden chopstick into the oil and see if there are bubbles forming around it, or by putting a small piece of the spring roll wrapper and see of it bubbles), add in the spring roll by batches, depending on how big is your frying pan and how many you can fit. Make sure not to overcrowd the frying pan. Fry the spring rolls for about 1-2 minutes, or until golden and while occasionally rolling each of them in the oil to get an even golden color all around each spring roll. Remove from heat and use a cooling rack to cool the spring rolls or lay them on a plate lined with kitchen paper.

11. Serve the spring rolls with some Romaine lettuce (optional) and ketchup.

Spam & Marinade

1. Cut the spam into 2x2x7 cm rectangular prism. One can of 340g of spam should yield about 6 rectangular prisms.

2. In a flat-bottomed bowl or container, combine low-sodium soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar with a whisk until the sugar is well dissolved. Lay the spam prisms flat in the container, making sure there is enough space for each spam prism’s bottom side to be covered with the marinade. Marinate each side of the spam prism for 5 minutes. Once all sides are well marinated, remove spam prisms from the marinade and set aside to dry off excess liquid.

3.  Heat 1 tbsp of canola oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the spam prisms for 1 minute on each side, or until slightly browned. Remove from heat and let cool.

Fried Spam Musubi Roll

1.  Cut nori seaweed sheets into 6 rectangles of 7×12 cm. We used 3 nori sheets to get 6 rectangles.

2. To make a spam musubi roll, lay one nori seaweed rectangle coarse side up flat on a cutting board. Spread about 2 tbsp of cooked white rice on the coarse side of the nori sheet. You should get a flat, thin, uniform layer of white rice that covers the whole coarse side of the nori. To make spreading the rice easier, you can use the back of a wetted metal spoon.

   

3. Lay a saran wrap on a flat surface and place the nori rectangle on the saran wrap rice side down. Place a cooked spam prism at one end of the nori rectangle, aligning the 7 cm edge of the spam prism with the 7 cm edge of the nori rectangle. Spread about 1 tsp of cooked white rice along opposite end of the nori rectangle. Gently roll the spam prism and the nori sheet towards the opposite end using the saran wrap to avoid the rice from sticking to the board and to your hands. You should have a sushi-looking roll with spam inside, covered with a layer of nori sheet, and white rice on the outside.

   

4. Cover each side of each spam musubi roll with all-purpose flour. Then, dip the roll into beaten egg, covering all sides of the roll. Cover the roll generously with panko breadcrumb and set aside.

5. Repeat steps to make the other spam musubi rolls.

6. Add enough oil into a frying pan to get about ½ inch of depth and heat over medium high heat. Fry each spam musubi roll for about 30 seconds to 1 minute each. Make sure to regularly turn the rolls around while frying to get an even goldening on each side. Remove from heat and set aside to drain off excess oil.

7.  Enter a stick into each fried spam musubi rolls.

8. Garnish with Japanese mayonnaise, furikake, and green onions.