This is a classic Chinese dish with two very Chinese ingredients: Water spinach and fermented tofu.
Water spinach isn't actually related to spinach -- it is a type of morning glory. The most common Chinese names for it are "ong choy" and "tong choy", which means "hollow vegetable" because of its hollow stems.
Tofu production and cheese production have many parallels. Both start with a protein rich liquid (milk for cheese and soymilk for tofu), add some kind of curdling agent -- usually rennet for cheese and salt or calcium sulfate (gypsum, so you could conceivably make tofu from your drywall) for tofu. The remaining liquid is pressed out to form blocks from the leftover solids.
As cheese can be aged and fermented, so can tofu. Fermented tofu is known in Chinese as "foo yu". I call it "Chinese blue cheese" because it also has a pungent smell and soft creamy texture.
Ingredients
- 1 bunch water spinach
- 2 cubes fermented tofu
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
- 1 chili, sliced
- cooking oil
Method
- Cut off the bottoms of the water spinach stems and wash thoroughly. Spinach tends to be very muddy.
- Add oil to a wok and turn heat to high. We want a very hot wok because we don't want the spinach to be boiled.
- Add ginger and chili and fry for a few seconds until fragrant.
- Add fermented tofu. Squash them up a bit.
- Add water spinach and start tossing and mixing. They will be done very quickly -- about 30 seconds.
- As soon as the spinach has shrunk and turned a vibrant green, turn off the heat and remove from the wok. We don't want them "dying" with the residual heat.
When eating this dish, make sure you leave some rice in your bowl for the sauce at the bottom. It's the best part!
