Yum Ham w/ Sea Fungus (Laotian Ham Civiche)

Last year we had a Hawaiian themed party at a friend's house and I opted to make a dish similar to this. The flavor profile and textures are almost identical. Everyone knew that SPAM was going to be on the menu for that night but I wanted show the "versatility" of SPAM. I've never cooked with SPAM and maybe had it once upon a time but I couldn't promise you that I remember anything great about it. All I remembered was that it's like ham but saltier and maybe a little more delicate (polite words for mushy). This is a dish I've made tons of times but this time I decided to swap the ham for SPAM and instead of using the sea fungus I swapped that for glass noodles. In the end I think the SPAM was a great substitute for the ham.

(For my friend who asked me for this recipe I'll include the both recipes on this blog)

Ingredients:

5 Roma tomatoes (cored and julienne) 
5 scallions (cut to 2-3 inch lengths and quartered)
5 jalapenos (thinly sliced)
1 cup (or more) cilantro (roughly chopped)
4 servings of glass noodles or 4 dried sea fungus
2 cans of SPAM or 1/2 lbs of ham (turkey, pork, mystery meat, etc.) julienne cut
5-8 tablespoon lime juice (adjust tartness to your own palette)
5-8 tablespoon fish sauce (adjust saltiness to your own palette)
1 teaspoon (more or less) kosher salt (DO NOT USE TABLE SALT, YUCK!)
1 tablespoon dried crushed Thai chili peppers (Caravelle Brand is the best)

Directions:

Julienne the tomatoes, scallions, and SPAM or ham (if you want less heat from the jalapenos remove the seeds and julienne these as well). Place ingredients along with the cilantro in a large bowl and set aside. To prepare your glass noodles bring a pot of water to a boil and place the noodles in the boiling water. Almost immediately (15-20 seconds) strain the noodles in a callender while rinsing in cold water. If you cook the glass noodles for too long they'll become super sticky and unpleasant to eat and work with. Strain the water and use kitchen sheers to cut the noodles down to 3-4 inches in length (it doesn't have to be exact but it'll make it easier to eat). Place the noodles in the large bowl with the other ingredients.

If you decide to use the sea fungus, soak the fungus in warm water for about 10 minutes. Place the reconstituted fungus in a steamer and steam for 15 minutes. Remove the fungus from the steamer and let it cool. Cut and remove the hard core of the fungus. Cut the rest of the fungus into 1x2 inch cuts and place it in the large bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

Now comes the hard part (just kidding), add the lime juice to the ingredients in the bowl and mix well. Add as much lime juice to satisfy your sour palette. Next, do the same with the fish sauce and kosher salt. You'll notice that they'll be an almost perfect sour and salty balance with a hint of spiciness from the jalapenos. But it wouldn't be a true Southeast Asian dish if you didn't add more spice. So now add the dried crush Thai chili peppers and you should definitely feel the heat now.

Once you mix everything well, you'll notice that you might like it more salty or more tart adjust the flavors with fish sauce or a little more kosher salt and lime juice. Oh, by the way, you can also substitute the SPAM or ham for boiled shrimp or steamed chicken feet (another Laotian classic)!