Dish of Water Spinach with Dried Shrimp
(click to enlarge)

Water Spinach & Dry Shrimp


Thailand
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 4 side
**
40 min
Prep		 Water Spinach is very popular in South and Southeast Asia, and has a particular flavor affinity with shrimp, fresh, dried, or paste, as shown in this side dish.

1/3
1
2
1
1
c
#
cl
T
T
Dried Shrimp (1)
Water Spinach (2)
Garlic
Oil
Oyster Sauce (3)
Prep   -   (25 min)
  1. Run SHRIMP to powder in your spice grinder (see Method).
  2. Strip Leaves from WATER SPINACH leaving their stems behind. Tear into 3 inch lengths if too long. Discard overly thick stem ends (more than 1/4 inch diameter) and cut all stems, including leaf stems, into about 1-1/2 inch lengths - keep separate from leaves.
  3. Crush GARLIC and chop fine.
RUN   -   (12 min)
  1. Heat OIL in a wok, stir in Garlic and fry stirring over moderate heat just until garlic threatens to color, then stir in Dried Shrimp and continue to fry stirring for another 30 seconds or so.
  2. Stir in Water Spinach Stems. Fry over high heat until partially wilted (about 2 minutes), then stir in the Water Spinach Leaves. Continue frying for another minute or so until leaves are mostly wilted. Larger stems should remain a bit crunchy.
  3. Stir in Oyster Sauce and serve hot with steamed Jasmine rice.
NOTES:

  1. Shrimp:

    Plastic bags of whole dried shrimp are available at Korean, Chinese and Southeast Asian markets. The recipe presumes tiny shrimp, if you have the larger ones use 1/2 cup as they don't pack as well.

  2. Water Spinach

      [Pak Bung, Ong Choy]   This member of the morning glory family is a prohibited "noxious weed" in most of the United States, but is legal in California. It is widely available in the Asian markets here in Los Angeles. For details see our Water Spinach page.

  3. Oyster Sauce:

      A standard Chinese sauce also used in Southeast Asia for dishes in the Chinese style. My current favorite is Megachef, but Lee Kum Kee Premium brand is also very good - the bottle looks very Chinese, but it's made in Los Angeles. Yes, these are more expensive than some, but there's reasons for that (much higher oyster content, unleaded and no melamine). For details see our Oyster Sauce page.

  4. Method:

      Most recipes call for soaking the shrimp in water for 15 minutes or more, then pounding in a mortar. I find a lot of small pieces survive this, and Americans are not accustomed to little prickly things in their vegetables. Running to powder in a spice grinder fixes this problem.
  5. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch tt=to taste ar=as required
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