TERIYAKI SPAM HASH

There is no denying that the inspiration for this dish comes from the Epcot Food & Wine Festival. (Here was a fun post I did talking about my first time attending.) Normally held from late August to mid-November, the festival features a variety of dishes from all across the globe. The Hawaii booth at the festival, showcasing flavors from its namesake, was where I tried this teriyaki spam hash for the very first time.

I’ll say upfront that this is a rather prep-heavy dish, but the end result is worth it. There are seven different items that you’ll need to cut up, between the vegetables and the Spam. But if you separate out everything into appropriate containers, it’ll make the cooking process go pretty smoothly.

Sweet, savory, spicy, and umami flavors all come together for something that will have you continue going in for the next bite.

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Teriyaki Spam Hash
Makes 8 servings

2 medium Russet potatoes, total weight of 1 lb.
~ 3 tbsp olive oil
1 lb. tater tots
12 oz. container of Spam
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1-1/2 cups diced green peppers
1-1/2 cups diced red peppers
1 cup diced onions
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped scallions, for garnish
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
Salt and pepper, to taste
Sriracha sauce
Mayo

Special Kitchen Items:
9″ x 13″ casserole dish
4 qt. skillet with lid

Prep Work:

• Dice your green peppers, red peppers, and onions. Since they are all going into the pan at the same time, you can store them all in the same container as well.
• Peel your potatoes and cut them into 1/2″ chunks. One way I found to do this was to first cut the potatoes into 1/2″ disks and then from there, finish your cuts into cube shapes. If you want to prevent them from browning after you’ve cut them, submerge them in water.
• Cut your Spam into bite-sized chunks. For mine, I cut the Spam into 1/4″ slices and then finished them off into 1/2″ x 1/2″ cuts.
• Mince up your garlic and throw that into the same container as the other diced vegetables.
• Slice your scallions to use as one of the finishing garnishes. I went with 1/8″ wide slices.
• Mix up your Sriracha mayo to have that ready to go. I’ve used mine mostly for a finishing garnish, but you can scale up the quantity depending on how much you think you’ll use. To get just the right balance of spiciness, I’ve usually kept my ratio to 60% Sriracha / 40% mayo.

Cooking:

• Preheat your oven and cook your tater tots to the package’s directions. It took me about 20 – 25 minutes to finish everything on the stovetop, so if you time it right, your tater tots will finish just as you’re wrapping everything else up.
• In a 4 qt. skillet, heat up the 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. Once you’re at temperature, throw your potatoes into the pan. Toss until your potatoes are coated in oil. Do a quick seasoning of salt and pepper before stirring it up one more time.
• Cover the skillet and cook while still on medium heat for about 5 – 6 minutes. You’re aiming for the potatoes to have softened, but still hold shape while mixing around. To keep the bottom layer of the potatoes from burning, shake the pan (with the lid still on) every 60 seconds or so.
• After time is up, take the lid off, increase the heat a bit to just under medium-high and add in your diced peppers, onions, and garlic. Add in another 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and continue sautéing for another 6 – 8 minutes. Stir every minute until the peppers and onions have begun to soften, but still retain some crunch.

• Transfer the finished potato mixture over to a 9″ x 13″ casserole dish (a cookie sheet might suffice as an alternative as well) before turning your attention over to the Spam.
• Add in just a splash of olive oil to the pan before tossing in the cubes of Spam. Cook them at just under medium-high heat for about 5 – 6 minutes, until crispy on the outside. Put the finished Spam into the casserole dish with the potato mixture.
• Once the tater tots have finished baking, take those and also put them into casserole dish as well.
• The reason that I like using the casserole dish is because of the large surface area, and that helps in the next step with mixing in the teriyaki sauce to get it distributed nice and evenly.
• Pour in your teriyaki sauce in two waves, 1/4 cup at a time, combining everything together in between to make sure the sauce gets distributed. After this, the dish is ready for final plating.

Serving:

• Put a few scoops of the teriyaki spam hash into a bowl or a plate.
• If you want to try and pipe out the Sriracha mayo onto the dish and don’t have a sauce bottle, I’ve used a Ziploc sandwich bag with one corner snipped off as a moderately-successful substitute.
• Sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds and sliced scallions on top, and you’re all set to start enjoying.

For a recipe that was constructed mostly around just a photo of the dish, I was really happy with how it turned out. The addition of tater tots is my own spin on the dish, as the Epcot version has only the cubed potatoes. I wanted the tater tots to add another crispy element to the dish to help contrast with a lot of primarily soft ingredients. Sweet, savory, spicy, and umami flavors are all present in the dish, and you’re bound to keep wanting to go back in for that next bite.

Here’s the Epcot Food & Wine Festival dish that inspired it all.

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Categories: Recipes

Tagged as: epcot, epcot food and wine festival, potatoes, recipes, spam, teriyaki, teriyaki spam hash