Kangkung Belacan (Stir Fried Water Spinach)

Growing up, stir fries are a big thing in my family’s home-cooked meals. One of my favorite leafy green dishes is stir fried kangkung (‘kangkung’ is a Malay word for water spinach). To Malaysians, this dish is a classic and commonly ordered in food stalls or restaurants across town, especially at Chinese ‘dai chows’ (meaning ‘big fry’ in Cantonese) that serves up a variety of other stir fried dishes. 

In the dish, water spinach is cooked with sambal belacan, a Malaysian condiment made from dry red chillies, belacan (fermented dried shrimp paste) and lime juice. A wok is most ideal for stir frying kangkung, as always with most stir fries. The key thing to watch out here is when you toss the vegetable into the wok, you should hear a nice crackling sound and steam rising out. I give it a good 1-2 minutes max in the wok, then it’s done. 

If you cook it the right way, it’s a sure fire hit, and it goes very well with just plain rice.Ideally, the final kangkung dish should not be soggy or watery - it should still retain some “wok hei” (breath of the wok synonymous with Chinese stir fries), a crunchy texture and a perfect dark green color. 

For my recipe below, I used Homiah Foods’ Malaysian Crispy Sambal which saves me the hassle of pounding and making my own sambal paste to go with this dish. It’s the perfect accompaniment because it has just the right kick in terms of flavor and texture needed - not overly spicy once it’s cooked while also lending a distinct savory, slightly salty sambal flavor to the gravy. 

- Writeup and recipe by Deborah Lee

Kangkung Belacan (Stir Fried Water Spinach)