Species sheet · The Edible River
Water spinach
Hollow stems that float and snap.
- Stir-fried with garlic over high heat for a moment
- Stir-fried with shrimp paste (kangkung belacan)
- Blanched, in a salad with vinegar and chilli
- In French
- Liseron d'eau
- Scientific name
- Ipomoea aquatica
- In the water
- A creeping plant of riverbanks, ditches and paddies across tropical Asia, spreading over the water or the wet mud. Known as kangkong, ong choy or rau muống.
- Season & buying
- Year-round in the tropics; in Europe, a summer vegetable from Asian growers and grocers. Pick bunches with firm stems that snap.
- Common length
- ~100 cm
- How to identify it
- Hollow green stems that float
Long, spear-shaped leaves
White trumpet flowers, like a morning glory
On the plate
Mild and slightly sweet, the leaves tender, the stems crunchy like spring onion.
Avoid: Cooking it too long: it turns stringy and weeps water; stems first, leaves last.
In Vietnam the stems are split into thin ribbons with a small bladed tool: dropped in cold water, they curl into spirals for salad.
In Umay recipes
2 Umay recipes call for it.
