Kangkung Belacan (Stir-fried Water Spinach with Shrimp Paste)
Get your kangkung belacan recipe here! It's a quick and easy water spinach stir-fry that is popular in Singapore and Malaysia.
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 5 min
- Yield
- 2 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion
- 2 fresh red chillies
- 1 tsp shrimp paste (belacan)
- 1 Tbsp dried shrimp (udang kering)
- 300 g kangkung
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- salt if needed
- 60 ml water
Instructions
- 1
Peel and quarter the onion, peel the garlic and roughly chop the chillies (in 2-3 pieces).
- 2
Place all the paste ingredients into a chopper and chop to a fairly fine paste.You could use a pestle and mortar, if you like. If you are, soak your dried prawns in very hot water for 10 minutes. Then drain and pound.
- 3
Rinse and chop the kangkung into roughly equal lengths, measuring about 5cm (2in). Separate the harder stalks from the leaves, as the stalks will need cooking slightly longer.
- 4
Heat oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat and fry the ground ingredients until fragrant, for about a minute.
- 5
Add the kangkung stalks, stir, then add the water. Mix again and leave to cook for 2 minutes.
- 6
Now add the kangkung leaves, give it a quick stir just to let the leaves wilt. You don't want to cook it for more than 30-60 seconds. Take it off the heat.Like spinach, kangkung cooks quickly and is best eaten with a slight crunch as is true for all vegetables!
- 7
Check seasoning and stir in the salt if you want it saltier (the shrimp paste and dried prawns are salty ingredients). Serve immediately.