Stir-fried water spinach
Stir-fried water spinach is a common Asian vegetable dish, known by various names in Asian languages. Water spinach is stir-fried with a variety of vegetables, spices, and sometimes meats. It is commonly found throughout East, South and Southeast Asia: from Sichuan and Cantonese cuisine in China, to Indonesian, Burmese, Cambodian, Filipino, Malaysian, Singaporean, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese cuisine; to Sri Lankan cuisine and Bengali cuisine in South Asia.
Dish names
The dish is known by many names including tumis kangkung or cah kangkung in Indonesia; kangkong goreng in Malaysia; ginisang kangkóng or adobong kangkóng in the Philippines; pad pakboong in Thai; rau muống xào in Vietnam; stir-fried kong xin cai in Mandarin ; stir-fried tung choy or ong choy in Cantonese ; khteah tuk chien cha in Khmer ; gazun ywet kyaw in Burmese, kankun mallung in Sri Lanka; kolmi shak bhaja in Bangladesh and eastern India.- p=chǎo kōngxīncài
- , cah kangkung
- ,
- ; poj=chhá èng-chhài
- , adobong kangkong
- ; j=caau2 tung1 coi3
Cooking method
Stir-fried water spinach is one of the simplest, easiest, and also cheapest vegetable dishes in Asia, which contributes to its popularity. Water spinach thrives in the waterways, rivers, lakes and swamps of tropical Southeast Asia and Southern China. The garlic and shallots or onion are stir-fried in cooking oil, then the cleaned and cut water spinach are added, stir-fried in a wok on a strong heat source with a small amount of cooking oil. The stir-frying lightly caramelises the vegetables. The seasoning sauce is added according to each preference and recipe. Some might add slices of red hot chili pepper for spicy tanginess, while fresh or dried shrimp might be added for flavour. Other recipes might add diced tofu.Seasonings and variations
Stir-fried water spinach might vary according to its seasonings. A stir-fried water spinach dish could be lightly seasoned in garlic, black pepper, fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, or in spicy chili pepper, tauco, shrimp paste or other sauce.The Vietnamese version uses either fish sauce or oyster sauce for seasoning, while the Indonesian and Malaysian versions seem to favour shrimp paste. The Filipino version often uses a soy sauce-vinegar seasoning mix, reminiscent of Philippine adobo seasoning, with versions that also use shrimp paste, fish sauce, or fermented fish. The Southern Chinese recipe might favour oyster sauce or fermented tofu seasoning. In West Java, the Chinese Indonesian version favours the use of tauco fermented soybean paste as seasoning. In Burmese cuisine, stir-fried water spinach is typically fried with diced mushrooms, garlic, onions, and fresh chilies, and seasoned with oyster sauce, chicken stock, sesame oil, and salt.