Rau Muống Xào (Sautéed Water Spinach)
Water spinach stir fried with ground beef seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper.
Servings: 6
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.
