Petite Bunny

Kangkung is a malay word which refer to water spinach. Belacan mean Shrimp Paste.

I decided to cook this dish is because, we always graving for this dish. It so good and Calvin love it a lot. There no point of ordering in the restaurant all the time when we can try other stuffs. That’s how I decided to made this dish. How can I not know how to cook it when I born in Malaysia, right. I hope the photos tell it all.

Here a little bit of the water spinach history.

Water-spinach (Ipomoea aquatics) is a leaf vegetable native to the tropics which can be encountered in two different varieties. One has a hollow stem and large heart-shaped leaves so that it grows and flourishes in water and spreads over the surface like water-weed. When buying this variety, look for firm stems with green leaves. The second type also needs plenty of water to help it grow, but grows on land rather than in the water. The leaves are darker and thinner. As vegetables, there is hardly anything to choose between the two varieties. Both have a high vitamin C content and a slightly laxative effect. The pretty, bell-shaped white, pink, or red flowers are rarely seen even in the plant’s natural environment. Water spinach is related to the sweet potato and to morning glory.

It us not advisable to store water spinach for any length of time, as the leaves will turn yellow within a few days, and the stems will lose their firmness. As with most other leaf vegetables, water spinach shrinks when cooked and a large bunch of fresh leaves will lose two-thirds of its bulk.

Before cooking, water spinach must be carefully washed and cleaned and the tough tips of the stalks trimmed away. The leaves are separated from the thick stalks, since they do not take the same amount of time to cook. The mild flavor is similar to that of spinach as eaten in the West. Water spinach is blanched and added to salads and soups. It is particularly popular when stir-fried with a strongly-flavored paste of dried chili peppers and dried shrimp.