Happiness is.. LEAFY GREENS????Every once in a while, Cindy and I go to the
Filipino Food Store in Abilene, where, limited though their selection may be, I am able to just
soak in Asian groceries, spices, smells etc. There's often many products that are
made in Malaysia too!
Anyway, on Fridays, if you venture into the "
back" of the store, there will be a variety of
Asian vegetables. I'm always complaining that I can't find any "Asian vegetables" here in Abilene, but last Friday, my eyes almost fell out and I went "
OH MY GOSH" when I discovered they had
KANGKONG!!!
After I had brought it home and showed
David what "
gem" I had gotten from the store, he looked at me and asked, "
what IS that, spinach?" I didn't really know the proper English name for it so I looked it up....
Ipomoea aquatica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Ipomoea aquatica is a semi-aquatic tropical plant grown as a leaf vegetable. It is also called
water spinach,
swamp cabbage,
water convolvulus,
water morning-glory,
kangkung (from
Malay),
kongxincai (from
Chinese: 空心菜;
Hanyu Pinyin:
kōngxīncài; literally "hollow vegetable"), or
ong choy (from the
Cantonese pronunciation of Chinese: 蕹菜; Hanyu Pinyin:
wéngcài). It is not to be mistaken with watercrest. It is often a highlighted source of food.
Some of the yummilicous ways to cook it are...Kangkong Belacan aka Water Convolvulus ( I LURVE that word..hehe ) with Shrimp Paste
Sotong Kangkong aka Water Convolvulus with Cuttle Fish
An addition to Penang Hokkien Mee aka Penang Shrimp Noodles
Cultural references
There is a belief in Chinese culture that discourages extensive consumption of Ipomoea aquatica as a staple food crop (in contrast to rice) with the explanation that the hollow stem makes the person weak and hollow like the plant, although this belief does not advocate refraining from eating the plant entirely. But the elderly, for example, are discouraged from consuming it.
This belief probably derived from ancient observations following attempts to replace consumption of rice with the relatively resilient Ipomoea aquatica during times of food shortages and war and noting loss of muscle strength, probably due to the fact that Ipomoea aquatica contains less food energy than rice.
My grandmother just told me it gives you "Wind"
