Stir-fried water spinach is a common Asian cuisine vegetable dish, known by various names in Asian languages. Water spinach ( Ipomoea aquatica) is stir frying with a variety of vegetables, spices, and sometimes meats. It is commonly found throughout East, South and Southeast Asia; from Sichuan cuisine and Cantonese cuisine in China, to Indonesian, Burmese cuisine, Cambodian, Filipino cuisine, 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 (ผัดผักบุ้ง) in Thai;
rau muống xào in Vietnam; stir fry
kong xin cai (空心菜) in Mandarin (China); stir fry
tung choy or
ong choy (通菜) in Cantonese (China);
khteah tuk chien cha (ខ្ទះទឹកចៀនឆា) in Khmer (Cambodia);
gazun ywet kyaw (ကန်စွန်းရွက်ကြော် ) in
Burmese language,
kankun mallung in Sri Lanka;
kolmi shak bhaja in Bangladesh and eastern India.
-
p=chǎo kōngxīncài
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, cah kangkung
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,
-
; poj=chhá èng-chhài
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, adobong kangkong
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; 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
The stir-fried water spinach might vary according to its seasonings. A stir-fried water spinach could be lightly seasoned in garlic,
black pepper,
fish sauce,
soy sauce,
oyster sauce, or in spicy chili pepper,
tauco (fermented soybean paste),
shrimp paste or other sauce.
The Vietnamese version use either fish sauce or oyster sauce for seasoning, while the Indonesian and Malaysian version seems to favour shrimp paste. The Filipino version often uses a soy sauce-vinegar seasoning mix, reminiscent of the Philippine adobo seasoning; with versions that also use shrimp paste, fish sauce, or bagoong isda. The Southern Chinese recipe might favour oyster sauce or fermented tofu (腐乳) seasoning. In West Java, the Chinese Indonesian version however, favours the use of tauco fermented soybeans 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.
Water spinach with shrimp paste
A specific preparation of water spinach stir-fried with
shrimp paste (
belacan in
Malay language;
terasi in Indonesian; and
bagoong alamang in Filipino) is called
kangkung belacan or
kangkong belacan in Malaysia and Singapore,
cah kangkung terasi in Indonesia, and
binagoongang kangkóng in the Philippines.
It is a popular vegetable dish in Maritime Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, the shrimp paste can also be replaced with
bagoong isda (fermented fish) or
patis (fish sauce) and is commonly served with deep-fried pork belly (
lechon kawali).
See also