Now, this is a dish I do for my wifey. And it is the cheapest way possible to make her happy. She loves the dish, and kangkong is really cheap.
You see, the wifey doesn’t like greens. Asparagus? Nope. A nice salad? No way. Kale is poisonous. She once had a dream of me cooking broccoli for dinner, only broccoli. She called it a nightmare. But there is a veggie dish she does eat. And that is sambal kangkong. Cause it does not taste of kangkong. It tastes of sambal and dried shrimp.
This dish is available at every Tze Char in Singapore, and the wifey liked some better than others. I noticed there are 2 things about the ones she liked. First, they use a lot of dried shrimp. The dish is really more a paste of sambal and dried shrimp, with some kangkong in it. Second, she liked the ones where the kangkong is super tender. And for me, I don’t like too much heat – I don’t want it super hot.
So I set about to cook it – the way we like it.
Ingredients and mise
The pic below shows the main ingredients and the proportions you need.
You will need
- Kangkong, a bunch about 150 grams
- Dried shrimp, dry weigh about 30 grams (yes, its a quite bit)
- Some garlic
- A big tablespoon of sambal belachan. I use the Taho brand.
- Optional – kecap manis and/or oyster sauce
Prep – the secret
What the wifey likes is really tender kangkong. Some places do it well, and at first I thought they have some special source of baby kangkong or something. Then one day, I watched a Tze Char stall doing prep, and I found the simple secret. The chef was sitting at the table with a pile of kangkong and a pair of scissors. He took each strand of kangkong, snipped off only the leaves, and binned the entire stem. It’s that simple. It means that much of the kangkong is wasted, but it is a very cheap veggie that grows easily and quickly.
And this is what it looks like. Only the pile of leaves (right) is used. The stems (left) are not. Of course the leaves should be washed and drained.
The dried shrimp is soaked in water and pounded. And the garlic is minced.
You are ready to cook!
Cooking
Heat up a wok on medium heat with a splash of oil. The first to go in is the dried shrimp.
The shrimp needs to cook a bit in the oil, till it takes on a toasted look. It will smell much better.
The garlic goes in next.
Allow the garlic to cook a bit and release its aroma, then the kangkong goes in.
Stir that up a bit, and add the sambal.
Stir it up, it should get quite pungent at this point.
Add in a bit of water. To finish, I like to add a bit of kecap manis and sometimes some oyster sauce, which gives it a rich flavour and colour.
And there you have it. Sambal kangkong, with loads of dried shrimp and tender leaves!
Enjoyed reading this? Like @dubeerskitchen on Facebook and Instagram for more fun stuff!