Vegetables of the World - Chinese - Chinese Red Spinach

Hello, this week, I want to introduce you to Chinese Red Spinach, 紅莧菜, it's a more hearty version of the traditional spinach with colorful leaves, much like the maple leaves turning orange or red.  This vegetable carries purple, red, & green leaves. Chinese Red Spinach is supposed to have a good dose of iron per my mom.  Click and enlarge any of the images if you like. Let's dive right in!

Chinese Red Spinach with garlic

I got this from local Asian market, look for the purple/red leaves and strong healthy stalks, 

make sure they're not limp

closer look at the leaves

 here're the stalks

first, separate the leave from the stalks, discard any leaves that look sick, spotty, or yellowish

basically anything that you won't eat

then, break the stalks into one inch pieces while pulling off the membrane when you break them

it's like peeling them

discard the bottom part of the stalks as they are too tough

can you see those membranes?

give the Chinese Red Spinach a thorough wash, usually 3 times or until the water does not contain any sand at the bottom of the sink

slice up 3 cloves of garlic (more if you like :))

heat up one tablespoon of oil in medium heat (canola or peanut oil), 

add 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt and then the garlic,

put the stems in first and stir for 30 secs, 

then add all the leaves & stir evenly, 

at this point you can add a tiny bit of cooking wine (optional),

cover the pan with a lid and turn the heat down to medium low,

it takes about 2 minutes or until you see the steam coming out,

then turn off the heat, let sit for 15 secs with the lid on.

and voila! here's a plate of yummy Chinese Red Spinach

Enjoy!

A little further details about the specific vegetable family, check out Wikipedia

Happy Eating!