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Have you ever been in charge of being the “grocery shopper” to buy Morning Glory aka “Vietnamese Spinach” but felt overwhelmed when you reached the store and didn’t know which type to buy? Have you ever been instructed to buy Morning Glory but accidentally bought Water Morning Glory instead?
Table of Contents
- Part 1. Distinguishing Water Spinach: 4 Key Differences Between ‘Morning’ and ‘Water Morning’ Glory
- Part 2. Suggestions for glory Dishes
Water Spinach is a nutritious vegetable and is loved by many for its low cost and ease of preparation into various delicious stir-fried dishes. Sometimes, during your meal preparation, you encounter different types of Spinach but can’t distinguish them. Or have you ever faced the above situation?
Part 1. Distinguishing Water Spinach: 4 Key Differences Between ‘Morning’ and ‘Water Morning’ Glory
Glory is a leafy vegetable and an amphibious plant, growing both in water and on land. They have hollow stems with leaves emerging from each hollow segment, and at the junction of these segments, you can find a leaf, shoot, flower, or root. Glory leaves are triangular, pointed, sometimes narrow, and long.
In Vietnam, there are two types of glory: Morning Glory and Water Morning Glory. Interestingly, both are amphibious plants, meaning they can grow in both submerged and non-submerged environments. However, each type thrives better in specific conditions. Let’s explore this further in the following blog!
1.1. Differentiating Morning Glory
Name and Habitat:
Morning glory usually grows well and yields better when cultivated on dry land. Although this type of glory can grow in submerged fields or water, its performance is not as good as in water morning glory, so fewer people grow Morning Glory in water.
Characteristics of Morning Glory Stems:
Morning Glory has long, straight stems with many hollow segments. The stems of land glory may sometimes have rough spots, but there are also smooth-stemmed varieties.
Characteristics of Morning Glory Leaves:
The leaves of glory are arrow-shaped and have long stalks attached to the stems. Due to the leaf’s shape, which resembles bamboo leaves, many people call this glory bamboo leaf kangkong.
*kangkong: Widely used by people in Indonesia and Malaysia
1.2. Differentiating Water Morning Glory
Name and Habitat:
Water Morning Glory is typically grown (or grows naturally) in places with abundant water sources, such as high fields, low fields, submerged fields, or even floating on ponds and rivers.
Characteristics of Glory Stems:
Water glory stems are usually thicker and can be red-violet or green in colour. The leaves of water glory are large and heart-shaped.
Characteristics of glory leaves:
The roots of water glory emerge from the junction of the segments on the stem, making it excellent for propagation using stem cuttings.
Water glory plants have green leaves, but their stems can be red, purple, or green, so many people refer to this type of glory as red glory or purple kangkong.
Part 2. Suggestions for glory Dishes
Now, this is probably the most awaited part for everyone when thinking about various dishes made from kangkong, right? Let’s create your dinner menu with some suggestions from Kamereo! With just three basic ingredients – kangkong, butter, and garlic – along with some common seasonings, you can make a super simple and delicious Stir-fried with butter and garlic that’s perfect for any meal.
Stir-fried water Spinach with Garlic
All you need to do is sauté the butter and garlic until fragrant, then add the prepared glory and season to taste. Be sure to stir-fry the glory until it’s just tender to preserve its vibrant green color and crispness. Your finished dish will be a plate of beautifully green, crisp glory glistening with butter. A plate of stir-fried glory and fried fish is all you need for a delightful evening meal!
Glory Soup
On hot or cool days, glory soup is always an excellent choice for a family meal in Vietnam. Glory can be combined with various toppings, creating diverse and delicious dishes like dried shrimp glory soup, tomato glory soup, or vegetarian glory soup…
Let’s suggest how to cook a very simple squid and glory soup. The ingredients needed for this dish include kangkong, squid, lemongrass, and shallots.
Before cooking, we need to prepare and clean the ingredients. For squid, it should be cleaned and rinsed thoroughly with cold water. If the squid is small, you can cook it whole, while for larger squid, cut them into bite-sized pieces.
Now, let’s get to cooking!
Bring a pot of water to the boil, add lemongrass, and a little salt, then remove the lemongrass. Next, add the squid and boil for 1-2 minutes, then add the prepared kangkong. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder; you can adjust it to your taste. Once the squid and glory are cooked, turn off the heat. And the result is that you’ll have a delicious squid and glory soup.
Glory Salad
The ingredients for this dish include kangkong, pre-roasted peanuts, 2 lemons, chilli, garlic, and various seasonings.
Step 1: Start with the preparation steps:
For the kangkong also known as what Indonesians usually call, after buying it, remove the leaves and use a pestle to lightly crush the stem part. Then, cut it into bite-sized pieces. Afterwards, put the glory in a bowl, add 1 teaspoon of salt, and some vinegar. Mix it by hand and let it soak for about 5 minutes.
To make the glory crispier, after soaking it in salt water, rinse it again with water, put ice in the bowl with the kangkong, and soak it for 10 minutes.
Helpful tip: You can also use glory that has been blanched in boiling water for this salad. After blanching the glory in boiling water, put it in a bowl of ice water and soak it for 10 minutes to keep it crispy.
Step 2: Making the salad dressing
Add the juice of 2 lemons, 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of sugar, chopped garlic, and chilli to the bowl. Mix it well so that the seasonings blend together.
Step 3: Making the glory salad
Squeeze the glory to remove excess water and put it in the bowl. Then, pour the salad dressing mixture into the kangkong, mix it well, and let it soak. Squeeze out the kangkong’s water.
So there you have it, three glory dishes suggested by Kamereo. We hope that after reading this article, you have gained more useful information about distinguishing differentiating types of water spinach and can make better choices when shopping. You can also purchase the freshest glory at Kamereo! Follow us to stay updated with the latest information.
