About Spinach - Chinese Spinach in Broth

Chinese spinach or yihn-choi in Cantonese is sold at wet markets with roots (see photo below). One of the varieties has red leaves.  

There is another kind of spinach bô-choi which is more like the western type. We also find in Hong Kong a variety of water spinach / tûng-choi which is excellent stir-fried with garlic and fermented bean curd / fuh-yúh or even dried shrimp sauce / hâ-jeung. A popular dish at Chinese restaurants is fuh-yúh tûng-choi.

Here is my recipe of Chinese spinach in broth:

Chinese spinach in broth



Ingredients:

• 300gr (1/2 catty) Chinese spinach / yihn-choi
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Some Tsinghua ham / gâm-wàh fó-téui (a few thin slices)
• 1 pinch of salt
• A dash of vegetable oil

Broth: I make my own broth with 1/2 catty (300gr) of lean pork and 1 slice of ginger.

1) Scald meat in boiling water. 2) In a large saucepan filled with 6 rice bowls of water, add pork and ginger and bring to a boil. 3) Cover and reduce heat and simmer for 30mn.

Optional: Add 1 block of soft bean curd. 

Steps:

1. Prepare broth (see above recipe). Remove meat and ginger (reserve bean curd for later)
2. Bring the broth to a boil, add ham, garlic and spinach (previously washed and trimmed of roots).
3. Bring to the boil again and cook until the leaves and stems are tender (to your liking). Season with salt and add oil.
4. Transfer the spinach into a large serving bowl and pour some broth around the spinach.   
5. 
   Scoop the garlic and ham and place them on top of the dish to garnish. If you have prepared your broth with bean curd you can place the block cut into small cubes around the spinach.

Chinese spinach (red-leaves type)

Water spinach / tûng-choi

Chinese spinach (green-leaves type)