Rau Muong Xao Toi

Ingredients

The greens

• 600 gwater spinach
• rau muống, morning glory
• washed thoroughly
• cut into 6 cm lengths
• read the safety note

The seasoning

• 6 clovesgarlic
• sliced or roughly crushed
• 3 tablespoonsoil
• 1 tablespoonfish sauce
• or 1 teaspoon salt
• for a vegan version
• half a teaspoon sugar
• optional
• a splash of water
• black pepper

Sometimes added

• 1red chilli, sliced
• a squeeze of lime
• 1 teaspoonoyster sauce

To serve

• with rice
• alongside a main dish
• as part of a family meal

Directions

1. Wash it very thoroughly regardless. Fill a large bowl with cold water.
2. Lift them out rather than pouring the water off. The last water should be clear. Shake them out thoroughly. Dry it as thoroughly as you can.
3. Use a salad spinner or a cloth. Wet greens steam rather than frying. Cut it into lengths of about six centimetres. Trim off the thick woody bases. Look for bright green leaves and firm stems.
4. Use a generous amount. Slice it or crush it roughly. Do not mince it finely. Add the garlic immediately. Give it about fifteen seconds.
5. Add them all at once. Toss and turn them constantly. Use tongs or two spatulas. Keep everything moving. Give it about two minutes in total.
6. Add the fish sauce near the end. Add the sugar if using. Add a splash of water. Add it at the end, not the start. The leaves should be just wilted. Serve it immediately. Grind over black pepper.
7. Add a squeeze of lime if you like. Everyone takes from all of them. Salt makes it vegan. It keeps a day refrigerated. Wrap it in a damp cloth in a bag.

Technique

• Dry the greens as thoroughly as you can, and shake out the hollow stems. Water trapped in the stems floods the wok and turns a stir-fry into a boil — wet greens steam grey and limp instead of frying green and crisp, which is the commonest failure with this dish.
• Get the pan genuinely hot, smoking slightly, before the oil goes in. High heat is what keeps the greens crisp; moderate heat steams them.
• Cook in two batches if your pan is small. An overloaded pan cannot get hot enough and the greens steam in their own water.
• Slice or roughly crush the garlic rather than mincing it. Finely minced garlic burns almost instantly, and burnt garlic is bitter and ruins the dish. Fifteen seconds in the oil, to pale gold and fragrant, no more.
• Have everything ready before you start. This takes under three minutes and there is no time to chop anything once the pan is hot.
• Add the fish sauce at the end, not the start. It burns and turns harsh over high heat.
• A splash of water near the end creates steam that finishes the stems and lifts the caramelised bits from the pan. It is a genuine technique rather than a correction.
• Stop while the stems still snap and the colour is vivid green. Overcooked water spinach turns dull olive, and that colour change is the signal you went too far.
• Separating stems from leaves and giving the stems a head start gives more even cooking. Trim off the thick woody bases, which stay tough however long you cook them.
• Wash it in three changes of water, plunging and lifting out rather than pouring off. It grows in water and holds grit.
• Aquatic plants can carry intestinal fluke larvae attached to their surface — fasciolopsiasis is the documented example — which are ingested if the plant is eaten raw or undercooked. Thorough cooking kills them, and this dish cooks the vegetable through, so it does not arise here. Raw water spinach salads do exist in the region and the atlas does not recommend them. Buy cultivated water spinach and do not gather it from ditches or unknown water.
• Nothing quite substitutes. The hollow crunchy stems are particular to water spinach; spinach wilts entirely and gives no crunch, and choy sum or gai lan come closer.
• This is a side dish among several on a Vietnamese table, not a main. When the same vegetable is boiled instead, the cooking water is kept and served as a broth with lime — canh rau muống, a dish in its own right.

Substitutions

• Salt replaces fish sauce for a vegan version.
• Oyster sauce adds depth and makes it non-vegetarian in a different way.
• Choy sum or gai lan come closest in texture; spinach does not.
• A sliced red chilli adds heat.
• Fermented bean curd stirred in is a common Chinese treatment of the same vegetable.
• A squeeze of lime at the end brightens it.

Variations

• Canh rau muống serves the boiling water as a broth with lime.
• Rau muống xào chao uses fermented bean curd instead of fish sauce.
• Kangkong belacan in Malaysia and Singapore uses shrimp paste and chilli.
• Pad pak boong fai daeng in Thailand is the same vegetable cooked over a fierce flame.
• Rau muống chẻ, the shredded raw stems, is served as a garnish with noodle dishes.
• Water spinach pickled in vinegar is eaten as a side in northern Vietnam.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rau Muong Xao Toi?

Rau Muong Xao Toi is a salad & side from Vietnam: water spinach flash-fried with garlic.

How long does Rau Muong Xao Toi take to make?

Rau Muong Xao Toi takes 10 minutes of preparation and 5 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4 as a side. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Rau Muong Xao Toi?

Yes, within limits. Salt replaces fish sauce for a vegan version. Oyster sauce adds depth and makes it non-vegetarian in a different way. Choy sum or gai lan come closest in texture; spinach does not. A sliced red chilli adds heat. Fermented bean curd stirred in is a common Chinese treatment of the same vegetable. A squeeze of lime at the end brightens it.

What is the most important thing to get right in Rau Muong Xao Toi?

Lift them out rather than pouring the water off. The last water should be clear. Shake them out thoroughly. Dry it as thoroughly as you can.