Stir-Fried Water Spinach or Pad Pak Boong
This Thai stir-fried water spinach is easy to make and a great way to get your greens in! It's delicious and ready under 20 minutes. So good with steamed rice or plain rice soup!
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 7 min
- Yield
- 1 serving
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 bundle water spinach (about 12.5 ounces or 350 grams)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 4 red Thai chilies
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fermented soybean paste
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the water spinach by chopping off the roots and first few inches of all the stalks and discard. This part is usually too fibrous and you don't want it in your stir-fry.
- 2
Remove any yellow or bruised leaves and rinse the rest of the stalks with running water. Then, chop them into 3-4 cm pieces (you can do the whole bunch with each cut) and set aside.
- 3
Peel the garlic and remove the stems of the chilies. Roughly pound the garlic, and then the chilies in your mortar with a pestle. Set the mixture aside.
- 4
Set a pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and wait for about 1 minute or until the oil is hot.
- 5
Add the garlic and chili mixture and stir until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- 6
Put the chopped water spinach in the pan and stir for about 2 minutes or until slightly wilted.
- 7
Add the oyster sauce, followed by the fermented soybean paste. Continue to stir to mix all the ingredients until the water spinach turns bright green and more wilted, about 2 minutes. Note that you don't want the water spinach to be completely wilted and dark in color.