Water Spinach with Ground Pork and Coconut Milk

Jan is really a solid meat eater. Actually, we both are which explains why we’ve grown horizontally through the years. There is however, one ingredient he loves more than meat, the water spinach. He’s got to have his own solo water spinach plate when we eat out.

In the Philippines, the high sounding water spinach is actually the unassuming kangkong. It is commonly cooked in soy sauce and vinegar but can also be an ingredient in fish or pork soup. Jan’s favorite is steamed kangkong with shrimp paste. To put a twist on the common kangkong, Jan added some coconut milk into this dish.

Ingredients:

7 stalks water spinach
1 cup coconut milk
2 teaspoons ground pork
¼ cup button mushrooms (canned, cooked variety)
1 onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
½ bell pepper, chopped
Green onions, chopped
Cooking oil
Salt

Procedure:

1. Steam kangkong steams until cooked. Add the leaves into the steamer and continue steaming until cooked.

2. In a pan, heat oil. Saute garlic, onions, ground pork and bell pepper. Add about 3 pinches of salt.

3. Add coconut milk and cook for 1 minute. Add mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes.

4. Plate kangkong and top with sauce and green onions. Serves 2.


Wife’s Verdict:

Believe it or not, I love eating green vegetables plain and without salt. I think that kind of proves I’m a little bit of a stiff, boring person but there’s no resisting the flavor in this dish. The coconut milk just rolled in my mouth. The pork gave a good break on the smooth texture though, which was just the way I like it.

Jan’s Quip: “I can live off of kangkong.”