Benefits, harm, composition and calorie content of water spinach. Information on how this type of morning glory is eaten, where it grows, what it looks like. Recipes for preparing delicious meals. Interesting facts about the plant.
Contraindications and harm of water spinach
Since this type of morning glory still belongs to the category of greens, water spinach can cause harm when consumed on an empty stomach - it is advisable to eat or drink something before that. Ideally, it should be paired with any other food, as it can increase the acidity in the stomach in its pure form. This product must be included with caution in your diet in the following cases:
- Allergy to vitamin C … This phenomenon is common, and you can recognize it by the appearance of a red rash on the body after eating the leaves and stems of this plant.
- Blood clotting disorder … This is especially common in people suffering from thrombophlebitis and varicose veins. A certain number of them have an innate tendency to such pathology.
- Gout … Alertness in this case should be observed because any greenery usually increases the amount of salt deposited in the joints. This can lead to severe pain in the knees, elbows, and shoulders.
- Stomach ulcer … The composition of water spinach contains fiber that irritates the walls of this organ in such a disease. The body can acutely react to it with abdominal pain, nausea, colic, and in especially severe cases, even the opening of internal bleeding.
Since water spinach is a herb that can provoke allergies, its use should be limited to pregnant women, lactating women and young children.
How to eat water spinach
Such greens are used both raw and cooked. It is eaten fried, steamed, pickled, boiled. This type of morning glory is combined with various sauces, seasoned with garlic and hot peppers. Compositions with seafood, fish, various fruits, for example, avocado and kiwi, are no less tasty.
The main side dish for water spinach is boiled rice. It can also be used with vermicelli, spaghetti, potatoes. The addition of stems and leaves of the plant to soups is actively practiced to give them a sweet taste and an original look. Very often in Asian cuisine, it is used for inclusion in omelette.
Water Spinach Recipes
For pure consumption, the stems and sometimes the leaves of the plant are boiled in salted boiling water, fried or steamed for 2-3 minutes. After heat treatment, they become softer, while retaining all their useful properties. You can understand that spinach is ready by changing its original green color to bright emerald. To emphasize its extraordinary taste, various fish sauces and garlic are added to it.
Here are some interesting recipes with water spinach:
- Pad Pak Bung … To prepare this dish, thoroughly wash the 20-25 stems, separated from the leaves, and dry them well on a cloth so that the water is completely drained. Then remove all the hard parts and divide each of them into 3-4 small, approximately equal in size lobes. Then wash, dry, peel and grind chili pepper (1 pc.) In a meat grinder. Then preheat a wok, pour any vegetable oil into it and load the prepared herbs. Then add oyster sauce (1 tablespoon) and chopped garlic (2 cloves) to it. Keep this mixture on low heat for 2-3 minutes without a lid and the same amount covered with it. Then turn off the dish, let it "reach", which will take about 10 more minutes, and serve with boiled long rice, seasoned with butter.
- Fried greens … First, rinse the water spinach (1 kg), remove the spoiled, yellow leaves and pat dry on a piece of cheesecloth folded in half. After all the water has drained from it, chop it all as small as possible with a knife with a sharp large blade along with the stems. Next, heat a high-walled wok, pour in raw-pressed sesame oil (1-2 tablespoons) and add its seeds (3 teaspoons). Cook them for as long as it takes to acquire a golden brown color. If you overexpose them, the grains will become bitter and tough. When they are ready, add ground coriander (2 tsp) to them and keep them on low heat for another 10 minutes. Then mix it all and add the pre-chopped spinach to the wok. It may not fit in full, then add it as the amount of mixture decreases as a result of frying. Then sauté it, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes, until tender, stirring all the time. Turn off the stove after the greens have darkened to a dark golden hue. Then let it stand for 2-3 minutes under the lid. The final touch is to add chopped garlic (5 cloves), soy sauce (3 tablespoons) and salt to the finished mass to taste. Serve as a salad.
- Seafood with vegetables … Chop washed and peeled prawns (250 g), white onions (2 pcs) and squid rings (150 g). Put all this in the multicooker bowl, into which you first need to pour vegetable oil (3-5 tbsp. L.). Then sprinkle the ingredients with turmeric (2-3 pinches) and cook them, uncovered, in the "Fry" mode for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. At the same time, tackle water spinach, which needs 200 g. Wash it, separate the leaves from the stems, chop the latter not very finely and add to seafood with vegetables. Next, put here canned corn (50 g), avocado puree (1 pc.), Sweet peppers cut into rings (1 pc.) And the greens themselves. Then pour in the vegetable stock (30 ml), vegetable oil (30 ml), oyster sauce (30 ml) and sprinkle the mixture with dried cayenne pepper (1-2 pinches). Then salt well, stir and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Soup … Peel the sweet potato (1 small) and cut into cubes. Then chop the leeks (1-2 pieces) and fry them in oil. Then combine all this, cover with water (1 l), salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with turmeric and cinnamon (2 pinches each) and place on the stove. Next, wash, dry and chop the stems of morning glory water (150 g). After the soup is almost ready, add the previously fried spinach to it in 2-3 minutes. Then whisk it with a blender in mashed potatoes and add white croutons (100 g).
Interesting facts about water spinach
Water spinach has a "brother" with the same name, Ipomoea, only, unlike him, this type of plant is successfully cultivated far from water. Outwardly, they also differ in the shape of the leaves, in the Asian species those are elongated, long, and in the "competitor" they are more rounded.
During the flowering period, beautiful flowers appear on Ipomoea, which can be pale purple, blue, white. They are usually darker or lighter in the center. Their number is small - from 2 to 5 on one bush. In addition to them, the plant has fruits in the form of small capsules with miniature seeds inside.
The peak of growth of morning glory occurs in the summer, and flowering - at the beginning of July-end of October, but it is harvested from June to September. Only leaves and stems are considered edible, but the roots can be used for medicinal purposes. Both are stored in the refrigerator, while the shelf life of the greens is not very long; outside the water, it can deteriorate in literally 2-3 days. To extend it, the torn bundles can be put into liquid.
The cultivation of aquatic spinach is excellently established in Southeast Asia, where up to 113 tons of greens can be obtained from 1 hectare of land, but in Russia it is not widespread.
Sometimes this plant is called "the flower of the morning dawn", this is due to the fact that its inflorescences open early in the morning, when other representatives of the flora are still "sleeping". They are sensitive to the sun and love moisture more, so they usually close in the afternoon.
The seeds of this plant at one time used polarity among the Indians, who performed magical rituals with them, however, then the morning glory did not yet have such a name. But after the discovery of the taste and benefits of this type of greens, it began to be widely used in cooking. Watch a video about aquatic spinach:
Considering how water spinach is eaten, and it is used, we recall, both pickled, and raw, and boiled, and fried, you should not be surprised that this ingredient will be very useful in the kitchen. With its help, you can "decorate" daily dishes a little and make them more original and appetizing. For Russia, Ukraine and other European countries, ordinary spinach is more familiar, but water spinach is gradually taking its place in the refrigerator due to its interesting taste, its enormous health benefits and ease of preparation.
