Easy better than take out stir-fried morning glory spinach. This recipe has 5 ingredients, oil, garlic, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and morning glory spinach. This recipe is simple, flavorful, and fast! Enjoy the tender and crunchy textures in each bite.
When morning glory spinach are in season, we can never get enough of it. Some of my other favorite ways to enjoy the abundance of morning glory is with spicy stir-fry morning glory (rau muống xào ớt), morning glory salad (gỏi rau muống) and stir-fry morning glory with beef (rau muống xào thịt bò).
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What is Morning Glory Spinach?
Morning glory spinach is a long leafy vegetable originally from Southeast Asia. It goes by many names such as water convolvulus, water spinach, river spinach, swamp morning glory, swamp cabbage, Chinese watercress, kangkong (Tagalog), ong choy (Cantonese), phak bung (Thai), bongz (Laotian), trakuon (Cambodian) and rau muống (Vietnamese). No matter what it's called it, this vegetable with its long, narrow and pointy leaves with crunchy hallow stalks is versatile and can be used in soups, stir-fries, blanched or even salads. It is flavorful, nutritious and well-textured.
Growing up seeing morning glory spinach (rau muống) on the dinner table meant that it was on sale and it marked the beginning of summer. My favorite way to cook rau muống is a simple stir fry with garlic.
At Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants, my family would often order this as a side dish for our family meals. At home, it was much more humble where we would eat as a main dish with the side of boiled eggs. It doesn't get better than that.
Now that I am a mom, when my kids request me to make this, I feel so relieved. Because they requested a vegetable and I can whip this up in less than 10 minutes. A win-win all around. When I make it for them I separate the leafy part from the stalk. The stalk is crunchy but can be too fibrous at times for the kids and they aren't able to chew it well enough. I also cut the leaves into small pieces when I serve them so they don't choke and can swallow it easily. If you do serve this to small children be sure to be very careful because the leaves are long and can cause choking!
🥄Equipment and tools
- Medium to Large size frying pan or wok
🛒Recipe Ingredients
Let's talk about the key ingredients.
- Morning glory spinach - The star of the recipe is morning glory. You want to find morning glory spinach that is fresh, long and green. Avoid bunches that are wilting and have a lot of holes in the leaves. Morning glory stalks are long and slender. Best practice for me is to separate the leaves from the stalks.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
👩🏫 How to Make Stir-Fried Morning Glory Spinach
Step 1: Turn the stove on high. When the pan is heated, add oil and sautee garlic. Sautee garlic until it is golden but not burnt.
Step 2: Add the morning glory spinach stalks and leaves to the pan. Fill the pan with half a bunch or as much as the pan will hold without overfilling. As the stalk cooks it will shrink, quickly. Add more morning glory spinach and continue to stir fry the vegetable. To speed up the cooking process cover the pan with a lid and let it steam for 30 seconds.
Step 3: When the morning glory spinach is cooked down add oyster sauce and fish sauce to pan. Using tongs or chop sticks turn the morning glory over and mix with the sauce and garlic until evenly coated. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the spinach is wilted. Take off the heat and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Wash morning glory spinach thoroughly.
- Separate the leaves from the stalk.
- Remember to trim the long leaves to make them easier to chew and swallow.
❄️Storage and Reheating Instructions
- Refrigerate for up to 7 days.
- Reheat: Microwave for 30 seconds - 1 minute
Did you try this guide?
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📖Recipe
Equipment
- 1 wok or medium to large size frying pan
Ingredients
- 1 pound morning glory spinach (about 1 bunch) washed, and cut
- 4-5 cloves garlic minced and cut (add more garlic if needed)
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or neutral oil of your choice
Instructions
- Turn on pan to medium high, when pan is hot add olive oil (or neutral oil of your choice). Add garlic and saute until it is golden brown.
- Add in morning glory spinach and cook until the leaves begin to wilt. To speed up the cooking process cover pan with a lid. Leave it on for 30 seconds and take off.
- Add in oyster sauce and fish sauce and coat morning glory in the sauces and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until morning glory spinach is soft and tender. If you prefer your morning glory spinach on the crispier side take morning glory spinach off the heat earlier. (see note)
- Turn off the heat and enjoy!
Notes
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