It has been a long time since I’ve had rau muống xào (a.k.a. sauteed water spinach). I didn’t even think about it until I came across it at the Asian store. My mom made this dish all the time when I was growing up because it was inexpensive in Vietnam. Plus it was an easy way for me to get my vegetables in.
What is rau muống (water spinach)?
Rau muống is commonly known as water spinach in English. Even though it’s called water spinach, it is not related to spinach at all. Instead, it belongs to the Convolvulaceae (morning glory) family and in the same genus as the sweet potato. Water spinach is a leafy plant that is rich in iron and is commonly used in Asian cuisines. Its stems are smooth and hollow with green, elongated leaves.
Water spinach is native to Southeast Asia, and thrives in moist conditions. It grows so abundantly that if not controlled, it can be a threat to waterways and native plant species. This is why it has been put on the noxious weed list by the USDA, and is federally regulated under the Plant Protection Act. There are strict rules that must be followed in order to grow water spinach.
There are many names for water spinach including…
- Hollow vegetable
- Heartless or hollow heart vegetable
- River spinach
- Swamp spinach, and I’m sure many more that I’ve missed.
Buying water spinach & storing uncooked water spinach
Water spinach is sold mostly at the Asian grocery store in big plastic bags. I’ve not seen it in any American grocery stores. The sold portions for raw water spinach looks like it’s going to be too much, but it will wilt down a lot once it’s cooked.
When buying water spinach, I always look for bundles that have green leaves and stems. Avoid any discoloration in the leaves. Pick the dry looking bundles because the ones with “sweat spots” or water spots inside the plastic indicates that it’s been sitting on the shelves for a while.
Once you take it home, leave it in its package until you’re ready to use it. Or if you’re like me and want to clean it then store it, just make sure to remove as much water as possible after washing it. Running it through the salad spinner a few times will help with this process. After everything is clean and dry, I place it in an air tight container in the fridge, and it normally lasts up to 3 days.
What does it taste like?
When it’s cooked, it looks like cooked spinach, but does not taste like cooked spinach. There is a crunchiness from the stems, and to me it has a slight sweet taste to it. When eating water spinach, it reminds me of eating cheese curds because water spinach also has that squeaky noise to it when you chew on the stems. In the words of my husband “forget cooked spinach, give me more water spinach” 🤣
How to prepare water spinach?
After watching my mom prepare water spinach, I can pretty much describe the process as…
- Pick-breaking the stems into smaller segments using your hands. This enables you to feel which part of the stem needs to be discarded because it’s hard, versus keep because it’s tender.
- Smash-lining up the stems and then gently “smash” the ends of the stems to “tenderize” it, making it cook faster & taste better.
- Twist-putting your hands on top of each other while holding the water spinach and give it a twist to break up the water spinach while slightly bruising it in the process to “tenderize” it.
We always put the cleaned water spinach in a salad spinner to help remove any excess water. Don’t worry, I’ve also included these instructions in the recipe below…so you don’t have to go back and forth 😊.
Common ways to cook water spinach in Vietnam
The easiest way to prepare water spinach is to boil it with a bit of salt & pepper. The resulting broth is then served as a soup. The water spinach is served along side Jasmine rice and condiments such as soy sauce or fish sauce to dip the water spinach in.
The other way is to stir fry it with thinly sliced beef, or ground beef and serve it with a side of Jasmine rice. It can also be eaten alone. Click here to read my post on how to make perfectly cooked Jasmine rice.
If you are not a huge meat eater, you can definitely sauté water spinach with just garlic, oil, fish sauce, salt & pepper. This is my husband’s favorite way to eat water spinach.
There is no special storage requirements for cooked water spinach. If there’s any left over, I store it in an air tight container in the fridge.
Rau Muống Xào (Sautéed Water Spinach)
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 3 tbsp chopped garlic
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil for stir frying the water spinach.
- 4 tbsp chicken broth for the water spinach so it doesn't dry out and burn.
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp salt ½ is used for the meat & ½ is used for the water spinach.
- 1 tsp pepper ½ is used for the meat & ½ is used for the water spinach.
- 1 bundle of fresh water spinach washed & trimmed.
Instructions
Instructions to wash & prepare the water spinach:
- Leave the water spinach in a bundle that it came in and cut the ends off.
- Use your fingers to break the water spinach into smaller segments. This allows you to feel which part of the stems need to be discarded because it is hard.
- Put the smaller pieces of water spinach into a large bowl and fill the bowl with water then gently swirl the water spinach around to remove any dirt. Repeat this until you don't see anymore dirt at the bottom of the bowl.
- After it's washed, remove the extra water by putting it in a salad spinner. If you don't have a salad spinner, put it in a kitchen towel, gather the sides of the towel and spin the towel…creating your own "salad spinner".
- Line all the water spinach up and gently "smash" the ends with the palm of your hand. This will help bruise the stems…similar to tenderizing it.
- Then hold the stems with your hands stacked and twist until it breaks in two. Now it's ready to be sautéed.
Instructions for cooking the water spinach & ground beef:
- Add chopped garlic and vegetable oil into a pan and let the garlic sauté for approximately 2 minutes.
- Then add in the water spinach, salt and pepper. Give it a toss to make sure the salt and pepper are well mixed in. Add in the chicken broth to give the water spinach some moisture so it doesn't burn. Let it cook until it's wilted.
- Transfer the cooked water spinach to a bowl and set aside while preparing the ground beef.
- Add the ground beef, salt, pepper, chopped garlic and fish sauce into the same pot & cook the ground beef thoroughly.
- After the beef is cooked through, add the cooked water spinach back into the pot. Give it a taste and adjust accordingly. Now it's ready to be served.
The next time you’re looking for a green vegetable to serve as a side dish, give water spinach a try. It is so easy, simple, healthy and delicious. If you’ve cooked with water spinach before, what did you think? Leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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