Asian Spinach Stir Fry
I'm always on the lookout at the Asian grocery store for interesting vegetables. This time, some leafy greens shaped like lotus leaves labelled as "Mong Toi" caught my eye. A little googling revealed that "Mong Toi" is also a Vietnamese spinach , crossed between a chinese broccoli and a spinach, and it is also known as "Malabar Spinach" to the Indians. When over cooked, this Asian spinach might turns out a little slimy like the okra. You can sometimes see Mong Toi spinach served in Cantonese cuisine, known as "Saan Choy". This spinach has so many names in Chinese which translates to different meanings such as "emperor's vegetable" or "fallen hollyhock". The fact is, Malabar Spinach is not really a spinach, although its flavor resembles much to the regular spinach. It has an interesting slippery texture to the mouth, and its meaty leaves lends quite a bit of an iron-after-taste.Nutritional facts : High in Vitamin A, C, iron and Calcium, and low in calories by volume and high in protein per calorie. This meaty leaves are rich source of soluble fiber, valued for removing mucus and toxins from the body.
More information and planting tips : Garden Pages
Cooking tips : Do not over cooked the spinach due to the high level of iron which could lead to a slightly unpleasant iron-after taste and leaves a slippery feel as well. So, what I did was to deep fry some chinese salted fish and use the oil to stir fry the mong toi spinach with a hint of fish sauce to tone down the iron taste.
Here I am, venturing into another episode of discovering a new taste and my submission to this Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Kalyn's Kitchen : Asian Spinach Stir-fry with Crispy Salted fish and Shrimps.
Tags : weekend herb blogging, food blogging events, quick and easy recipes, stir fry
Mong Toi Spinach Stir-Fry Recipe
Ingredients :
sliced salted fish ( You can buy these at any Asian grocery market, preferably "555" brand as they are made of pure red snapper fillets )
6-8 shrimps ( peeled and deveined )
1 bunch mong toi spinach
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
shaoxing wine ( OR other chinese cooking wine )
1 tsp sesame oil
water
Method :
1) Pan fry the pre-sliced salted fish to a crisp, and then set aside.
2) Saute the ginger and garlic, toss in shrimps, pan fry until slightly browned, add the spinach in, dash the fish sauce, oyster sauce and splash in some cooking wine, and mix well.
3) Stir fry for 2 minutes, add the pan fried salted fish, some water, mix well, and give it a quick 30 seconds stir fry.
2) Saute the ginger and garlic, toss in shrimps, pan fry until slightly browned, add the spinach in, dash the fish sauce, oyster sauce and splash in some cooking wine, and mix well.
3) Stir fry for 2 minutes, add the pan fried salted fish, some water, mix well, and give it a quick 30 seconds stir fry.
Labels: Stir Frys, Vegetables
Posted by Melting Wok
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23 Comments:
Heh heh, another adventurous spirit! I also like trying new things, but uh, if it gets slimy after cooking, then I'll give it a pass! ;-) But I do love crispy salted fish with beansprouts! Yum!
shilpa, not if you do a quick stir-fry, it will only get slimy if you overcook it, that's all :) Btw, yeah, I love salted fish too, been eating them with preserved duck eggs, fermented beancurd and congee at the beginning of winter. For last few pieces I been doing stir frys and its so good :)
mmh that looks very delicious. :)
I haven't seen or heard of this type of Chinese greens, so thanks for introducing us to something new for WHB. I think learning about new things is the main reason people love the event so much. This sounds good to me. I haven't had this kind of salted fish either, at least not that I know of, so I wish I could taste the dish!
Wow, mong toi spinach is new to me. I'm often overwhelmed by the huge variety of greens in my local Asian supermarket. Thank you for sharing your photo of the raw vegetable, so I'll know what to look for.
Wow melting wok.. looks like you have good salted fish there. I can find it here, but it always comes with skin and scales on, so that's quite enough to deter me from buying it more often..
Lucky me, I can get this green in at least one asian grocery nearby...looks fantastic! :)
astrid, thanks Paul, your submission to WHB was great too, thymes..yums :)
Kalyn, thanks :) You've hit the keyword - learning, and what great way to share it through WHB. If you get a chance, get the salted fish, it's been roasted, preserved and dried, that fragrant taste adds so much flavor to any dish, you'll love it, I'm sure :)
Lydia, thanks, and yes, I'm lucky to have found an endless varieties of asian greens available at my Asian grocery market. If you find it, do share it with us at perfect pantry, cheers !:)
shilpa, I got the skin on, deboned red snapper fillets, not too fishy indeed. Just slice them real thin, and fry to a crisp, its simply yummy :)
Linda, thanks for dropping by :) I'm glad you can get it at your place,ohh..by the way, some people call these Ceylonese spinach, do you know ? :)
Mong Toi spinach is something new to me too, I gotta look out for it on my next grocery shopping!
This dish definitely looks appetising to me, I have to try it :)
It looks so delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe...A hug from Panama!
Melissa
Awesome post! Very interesting about the Mong Toi Spinach.
Paz
Salted fish. Waahaa so so so so so salty and stinken yummy. Never cooked it but my sister-law cooks it with pork belly - like tit kho. The thing is you gotta have a lot of vege side dish if salt fish is used. Thanks for a simple recipe.
U r rite. It's called wong-tai-choy literally translated as Emperor's Vegetable here. Not too popular tho due to d aftertaste which you put it as iron.
Athough I don´t know Mong Toi spinach :( I´m a fan of spinach. So I´ll try it this way. :)
wahhh so cute! never see ths mong toi in Malaysia before
Yummy!Its all new to me..Really interesting too..
I looooooove spinach and don't cook with it as often as I should/would like to!
This recipe looks delicious!
I'm back to tell you I tried this tonight as a vegetarian stir-fry. It was delish! Thanks for the great idea :)
lin, great, I hope you like it :)
melissa, from Panama, I couldn't find your address ? :( Thx for dropping by & thx for your compliment :)
Paz, YES, wonder woman *wink*:)
Bill, have you cook your bun bo hue yet ? *grins* Yes, I love my stinky salted fish, ooh, my mom used to steamed it with heaps of ginger with pork bellies too, great idea, thx :))
tummy, yeah, its quite delicate, its good if you do quick stir fry, otherwise haha, might need heavy mouth cleansing afterwards.
Helene, yes, its good to try something new, and we all love spinach :)
teckie, yup, that's the thing, I love trying all this new Asian veges that I don't see back home :)
kitchenfairy, thx for dropping by :) I hope you like it :)
Patricia, perhaps you should try this recipe using regular spinach hehe..hmm, I wander if I could make spinakopita with this kinda asian spinach ? :)
Linda, really ?? Awesome :)) How did you cook it ??
Now that you mentioned it I got it wrong it is actually steam not kho "braised" - oh I could eat endless bowl of rice and the salted fish and pork. Doesn't sound appetizing but its so so so so gooooooooood.
Hey I am an Indian who always cook Malabar Spinach. Check out this South Indian Malabar Spinach Curry South Indian Malabar Spinach Curry
Always wondered how the rest of world Asia cooked this one. Now I know..
Your pictures are great~ you shake a mean wok!
Bill, you've hit the right spot. The ginger, wine juice slow cooked with the salted fish & a bowl of hot steamy rice..heaven sent :)
Manjula, oh yes, I also heard somewhere that in Indian cooking, the malabar spinach is used kinda as a thickening agent, is that true ? By the way, your curry looks yummy with some hot basmati rice, yums :)
sandi, the baker ? *grins* yes, the breath of wok does wonders, thx for the compliment :) Will check your blog out soon, cheers :)
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