My lessons in greens continue. Morning, at the small market. A woman sitting at one corner, with bunches upon bunches of fresh greens bundled. I point to one variety I’ve not seen before.
“What are these”?
“Vallal keerai,” she answers. Keerai are greens in Tamil.
“What do you do with them?” The usual answers: kootu (dal-based preparation with vegetables and coconut), poriyal (akin to a quick, dry stir fry).
The greens are Rs. 10 a bunch. They wither and spoil fast, and so many of them grow wild and in small, home gardens. It’s usually women on the peripheries of the market who sell greens–cheap, perishable, with only small profit margins. Men, and more established market women, take the bigger ticket veggies.
At home, with Usha. “How do you cook these?” Same answers as in the market. But she goes on to tell me about how these greens are good for girls and women, pregnancy and menstrual health. You don’t get them all the time, she adds. I give her one of my bunches for her to take home to her daughter.
Lunch. A simple dal with the vallal keerai greens. We’re in love. And love takes me to Google to ask what these greens might be in a language I can understand. (Note the irony). After several re-tries with different spellings, I learn that these are Kang Kong greens, also known as water spinach, swamp spinach, botanically ipomoea aquatica, a distant relative of morning glories and always a survival food. Common, ignored, a weed. They’re cooked into stir-fries all over south east Asia, and are particularly good with just red chilli sambal and garlic.
Dinner, then, is a stir fry. But I have already other plans for these greens that cannot always be procured: the garden calls.
There’s just the perfect pot, not used because it lacks a drainage hole. Flood it with water. Grab a handful of kang kong, trim the ends, and stick them unceremoniously into the swampy mud. Wait–but not for long.
Soon the cuttings have rooted and are reaching for more sources of water.
Sooner still, they are blooming.
If you have the heart to harvest these greens, do so before the plant flowers. Because once it flowers, trust me, you won’t have the heart to harvest these greens.
If I ever get around to compiling my beginner’s guide to Tamil greens, I’ll also get around to posting dal recipes that use kang kong, too. Stay tuned. For now, just the recipe for the stir fry that we consumed too fast and in much too poor light to leave any hope for photographs.
Update: March 8: Garden-direct stir-fried kang kong greens!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Prep your greens by washing, cleaning, and chopping them roughly--stems included (they're deliciously crunchy).
- Mash together the red chilli or two and garlic--and if you like the taste--shrimp paste.
- Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a wok until it's about to smoke.
- Toss in the garlic-chilli paste and stir quickly.
- Follow quickly with the chopped greens, a handful at a time, adding more as the leaves wilt. Dress with soy sauce for saltiness.
- Et voila, you're done. Serve hot with rice.
My friend from Taiwan introduced me to water spinach–it’s her favorite green, and I love it too. Here in the US, we can find it sometimes in Asian grocery stores. I’ve never seen it growing, though. Beautiful!
I had no idea it could be found in the US, though we did always find most things there so it’s no surprise either. I’m almost loathe to clip leaves for stir-fries, so much am I enjoying just the flowers! And it’s so super easy to grow.. if you can simulate a little bog or swamp even just in the warmer months.
There’s an (expensive) Thai restaurant near me, and their water spinach (they call it Morning Glory) dish is one of my favourites – I haven’t seen the vegetable used anywhere else here. I keep meaning to try growing my own, so hopefully this is the year! Thanks for sharing, the plant is beautiful.
Oh how fun–to think Thai with Kang Kong. All the combinations that have appealed to me have been Malay really, but I’d love to know what you think goes into the dish at the restaurant. Just maybe we can try to reproduce it? And if you do grow your own, I’d love to see photos!
Love learning about new ingredients! This is a really pretty one. And that’s a really tasty looking stir-fry. 🙂 Thanks for this.
Almost too pretty to eat. Thanks for the comment, John!
Loved the story in pictures!
Shri! Long time! Hope you are well and with access to Kang Kong greens 🙂
Thanks for pictures of Kang Kong. I have been removing this plant with little success in my garden without knowing it as vallai keerai.
And edible, too! Now you can grow your weeds and eat them too — ha ha. I imagine you have a swampy garden?
[…] leaves), Krishna kamal (passion flower) leaves, Thoothuvalai keerai (solanum trilobatum) & some valla keerai or kang kong from […]
Amazing website and information.. Is Vallal the same as Ponnanganni ?? Somehow I think they are different but leaves seem so ifentical
Hi Venkat, no they are completely different. Vallal leaves are like elongated hearts or just like long triangles. Ponnanganni comes in many varieties, the long-leafed one is just like long ovals — it’s common in markets but there are red varieties and other wild varieties that are equally delicious but not commonly sold, and the leaves of those can be curly or just small and oval. See this post for the variety typically sold in markets: https://www.paticheri.com/2015/08/29/a-beginners-guide-to-tamil-greens-ponnangani-keerai/ But also see this (scroll down to the photo of ponnangani) which shows the wild variety — https://www.paticheri.com/2023/10/10/kalavai-keerai-guide-to-wild-tamil-greens/