The benefits of water spinach
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What water spinach does
What this vegetable does
It is held to clear excess heat and to settle the intestines.
How to eat it
Good added to stir-fries and soups, for the scent and the texture.
A yakuzen note
It is said to help with constipation and to ease the trouble that comes from heat.
It is thought to clear excess heat from the body and moisten the intestines. In hot weather in particular it can be looked to for settling the gut. In a stir-fry it goes beautifully with garlic and chilli, which lift its aroma and texture.
TOC
When water spinach is in season, its types, and how to choose it
If you want to enjoy what water spinach does, it helps to know its season, its types and how to choose it. It is the leaf vegetable of summer, loved for its hollow stems and its crisp bite.
In season in summer, with hollow stems that stand the heat
Water spinach is, as the Japanese name says, a vegetable whose stems are hollow inside. It belongs to the bindweed family and is a relative of the sweet potato. It stands heat well and grows fast at the height of summer, so its season is summer, around June to September. It is a valuable summer vegetable, coming in during the hot months when other leafy greens struggle. Widely eaten in Okinawa and Kyushu and across Southeast Asia, it has little in the way of a strong taste and cooks quickly, so a brief stir-fry makes a dish. The stems are crisp and the leaves soft, giving you two textures in one vegetable.
Ensai, yosai and unchee
Water spinach goes by different names in different places.
| Name | What stands out |
|---|---|
| Ensai and yosai | Other Japanese names. Common in seed catalogues and in the produce trade |
| Unchee | The name in Okinawa. A familiar island vegetable in summer |
| Tongcai | The name in China and Taiwan, where stir-frying with garlic is the standard |
Different names, the same vegetable. Varieties differ in the thickness of the stem and the size of the leaf, but all of them share the hollow stem and the soft leaves, and all can be used the same way, mainly in stir-fries.
How to choose them and prepare them
When picking out good water spinach, these are the things to look for.
- Deep green leaves standing firm, not wilted
- Stems not too thick, with a juicy cut end
- Firm throughout, with no discolouring or yellowing
In preparing it, the stems and the leaves cook at different rates, so cut it into easy lengths and put the slower stems in first, adding the soft leaves after, and the texture comes out right. It is not harsh, but overcooked it turns watery, so a brief pass over a high heat is the way to go.
How to eat water spinach
The crisp stems and soft leaves of water spinach carry it widely, above all into stir-fries. Here are the usual ways.
Stir-fried with garlic, and with oyster sauce
Water spinach is at its best stir-fried with plenty of garlic. Fried Chinese-style with garlic and seasoned with salt or chicken stock, it makes a dish that keeps you eating rice. Oyster sauce, fish sauce and chilli turn it towards Southeast Asia. Thailand's pad pak bung fai daeng is water spinach stir-fried with garlic as well. Frying it fast over a high heat and keeping the crispness is the secret.
Blanched and dressed, as namul and in soups
Blanched quickly and dressed with soy sauce or stock, or seasoned with sesame oil and salt as namul, it makes a fine palate cleanser. Added to a Chinese soup or a miso soup, you get the crisp texture and the colour. Bound with egg, or fried with bacon and finished with egg, it is gentle in flavour. Whether boiling or frying it, keep the cooking short and play to the vivid green and the bite.
How to keep water spinach
Water spinach does badly in dry air and spoils easily. Wrap it in damp kitchen paper, put it in a plastic bag and stand it upright in the vegetable drawer of the fridge, and it holds its freshness. Use it up within two or three days. If you cannot use it soon, boil it firm in salted water, squeeze out the water and freeze it in small portions, ready for stir-fries and soups. Blanched briefly first holds the colour and the texture better than freezing it raw.
Alongside this, a summer vegetable likewise held to cool excess heat, The benefits of eggplant and another leaf vegetable, The benefits of pak choi as a guide when building a summer table.
In season in summer, water spinach is a leaf vegetable that earns its place in the hot months, from garlic and oyster-sauce stir-fries to blanched dishes and soups. Ensai, yosai, unchee: the names differ, but the hollow stems and soft leaves are the same. For daily care in the season when the heat takes the appetite, bring water spinach, finished fast over a high heat, to the table.
