Ipomoea aquatica
'kangkong' water spinach
Ipomoea aquatica is a semiaquatic, tropical plant grown as a vegetable for its tender shoots and leaves. It is found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, although it is not known where it originated. This plant is known in English as water spinach, river spinach, water morning glory, water convolvulus, or by the more ambiguous names Chinese spinach, Chinese Watercress, Chinese convolvulus, swamp cabbage or kangkong in Southeast Asia. Occasionally, it has also been mistakenly called "kale" in English, although kale is a strain of mustard belonging to the species Brassica oleracea and is completely unrelated to water spinach, which is a species of morning glory. It is known as phak bung in Thai and Laotian, eng chai in Teochew and Hokkien, ong choy (蕹菜) in Cantonese, kongxincai (空心菜) in Mandarin Chinese, rau muống in Vietnamese, kangkong in Tagalog, kangkung in Indonesian and Malay, gazun (ကန်စွန်း) in Myanmar, trokuon (ត្រកួន) in Khmer, kolmou xak in Assamese, kalmi saag in Hindi, kalmi shak in Bengali, Thooti Koora in Telugu, "Kalama Saga" in Odia, hayoyo in Ghana. In Suriname (South-America) it's known as dagoeblad or dagublad.
I. aquatica grows in water or on moist soil. Its stems are 2–3 metres (7–10 ft) or more long, rooting at the nodes, and they are hollow and can float. The leaves vary from typically sagittate (arrow head-shaped) to lanceolate, 5–15 cm (2–6 in) long and 2–8 cm (0.8–3 in) broad. The flowers are trumpet-shaped, 3–5 cm (1–2 in) in diameter, and usually white in colour with a mauve centre. Propagation is either by planting cuttings of the stem shoots that will root along nodes or planting the seeds from flowers that produce seed pods.
Ipomoea aquatica is most commonly grown in East, South and Southeast Asia. It flourishes naturally in waterways and requires little, if any, care. It is used extensively in Burmese, Thai, Lao, Cambodian, Malay, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Chinese cuisine, especially in rural or kampung (village) areas. The vegetable is also extremely popular in Taiwan, where it grows well. During the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II, the vegetable grew remarkably easily in many areas, and became a popular wartime crop. In the Philippines, a variety of kangkong is grown in canals dug during the American occupation after the Spanish–American War, while another variety growing on land is called Chinese kangkong.
In non-tropical areas, it is easily grown in containers given enough water in a bright sunny location. It readily roots from cuttings.
The vegetable is a common ingredient in Southeast Asian dishes. stir-fried water spinach is a popular vegetable dish in Southeast Asia. In Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, the tender shoots along with the leaves are usually stir-fried with chili pepper, garlic, ginger, dried shrimp paste (belacan/terasi) and other spices. In Penang and Ipoh, it is cooked with cuttlefish and a sweet and spicy sauce. Also known as eng cai in the Hokkien dialect, it can also be boiled with preserved cuttlefish, then rinsed and mixed with spicy rojak paste to become jiu hu eng cai. Boiled eng cai also can be served with fermented krill noodle belacan bee hoon and prawn noodle.
In Indonesian cuisine it is called kangkung, boiled or blanched together with other vegetables it forms the ingredient of gado-gado or pecel salads in peanut sauce.
In Thailand, where it is called phak bung (Thai: ผักบุ้ง), it is eaten raw, often along with green papaya salad or nam phrik, in stir-fries and in curries such as kaeng som.
In Vietnam, I. aquatica (rau muống) is a common ingredient and garnish in Vietnamese cuisine and was once served as a staple vegetable of the poor. In the South, the water spinach is julienned into thin strips and eaten with many kinds of noodles. It is also commonly cooked in a sour soup (canh chua), with tomatoes, other vegetables, and some kind of protein. Rau muống is also commonly sauteed with chopped garlic, oil (or pork fat), and fish sauce, known as rau muống xào tỏi (stir-fried water spinach with garlic) and served as a side dish in many meals...
50+ Seeds Ipomoea aquatica