Stir fried water spinach

	Water spinach (or kangkung, to use its Malay name) is a hugely popular stir fry vegetable. This method of cooking results in a very flavourful dish, sure to tempt even the most jaded of green-veggie haters. You can find bunches of water spinach in Asian markets, but this dish is also excellent with ordinary garden spinach, so just use that if you don't have easy access to water spinach.

Recipe

1 tsp oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 large dried red chilli, left whole or chopped (chopped with increase the heat by allowing the seeds into the dish).
1 tsp shrimp paste
1-2 tsp sugar
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dried shrimp floss *
250g fresh water spinach or garden spinach, washed, dried very well

Heat the oil in a large pan, and add the shrimp paste, garlic, ginger and chilli. Cook for a minute, then add the sugar, soy sauce and shrimp floss. Stir to mix, then add the spinach and cook until wilted down. You're done.

Note 1: If you don't like much chilli, leave the chilli whole. You can then fish it out on serving. If you like things spicier, chop of break up the chilli finely, so the fresh and seeds mix throughout the dish. You could also use sambal olek (minced fresh chillies) in place of the dried chillies.

Note 2: To make shrimp floss, start with a bag of dried small shrimp (available in Asian markets; kept in the fridge, the bag will last for ages). Put a spoonful into a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, and grind until it resembles shreds. If you don't have access to dried shrimp, you can omit them and double the amount of soy sauce (as the shrimp are very salty).

Note 3: Ensure you get all the water off the spinach, or it will make your finished dish to watery. If that happens to you, just add a little cornstarch (made up into a paste with a little water) to thicken the sauce so it clings to the spinach. I won't tell if you don't.

Serves: 2-3
Preparation and cooking time: 6-7 minutes