We love the semi aqautic vegetable rau muong, otherwise known as water spinach, morning glory, ong choy (Chinese), or kang kung/kong (Indonesian/Malasian). In some US states, this is considered a “noxious weed” –not so much that it’s toxic or noxious to eat, but it can grow rapidly without much care and can be deleterious to native plants. It actually has similar nutritional benefits of spinach. In Vietnam however, this is the staple vegetable for the poor and common folk and is used in a variety of ways–most commonly stir fried with garlic and eaten as a vegetable side or stems julienned and served with noodle soups.

While we love the classic Vietnamese stir fry with garlic, we can’t get enough of the Malaysian preparation called kangkung belacan which incorporates Malaysian style fermented shrimp paste belacan as the key ingredient. Rasa Malaysia has an excellent belacan yam leaves recipe which we adapted.

This is an extremely tasty dish but close all your bedroom doors, open all your windows, and turn the vent on high and don’t wear your favorite shirt as the smell is pungent!!