Author Notes
SPAM is such an integral part of the Hawaiian diet that I can’t believe the state flag doesn’t include a picture of a can waving in that tropical breeze. This concoction originated as military food and the connection goes back to our naval bases back before Hawaii attained statehood.
Of course the hard thing is to make it taste like food. It’s cheap and nutritious in a way but still…SPAM can be nasty stuff. Nonetheless no bar is too low for Pierino to limbo when it comes to nickel and diming. Still, we do want to deliver something that tastes good and might be edible to the hungry and poor. To even my own surprise this turned out to be a success.
—pierino
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Ingredients
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1
half of one 14 ounce can SPAM leftover in the fridge from your egg breakfast
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6-8
corn tortillas
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Peanut oil
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chili oil
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1/2 cup
sweet onion such as maui
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1 tablespoon
soy sauce
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1 cup
crushed pineapple
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Mexican style crema or sour cream (optional)
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For table condiments: a vinegar based hot sauce such as Tabasco or piri piri (Portuguese hot sauce)
Directions
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Chop the onion and cut the SPAM into very small dice
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Heat up a skillet and add a very thin film of peanut oil. Add a few drops of chili oil to the pan.
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Add the onions and SPAM and stir until the onion is translucent and the SPAM is lightly colored.
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Stir in the soy sauce.
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In a second dry skillet begin heating the tortillas.
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On individual sheets of butcher paper or parchment slightly overlap two tortillas per taco. Add a scoop of SPAM, some pineapple, and a squirt of crema if using.
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Season to taste with hot sauce.
Standup commis flâneur, and food historian. Pierino's background is in Italian and Spanish cooking but of late he's focused on frozen desserts. He is now finishing his cookbook, MALAVIDA! Can it get worse? Yes, it can. Visit the Malavida Brass Knuckle cooking page at Facebook and your posts are welcome there.
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