Kangkung Beef

Kangkung (also known as water spinach), makes for a delicious side dish when stir-fried. Although it is usually made with simple seasoning and served plain with rice, I prefer making it slightly spicier and mixing it with beef.
Make sure you don’t overcook the kangkung though, because it’ll lose its lovely green color, which then makes the dish look dull.

 

 

Ingredients

For the beef

• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ inch cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp peppercorns
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• ½ tbsp fenugreek seeds
• 5 cardamom pods
• 5 cloves
• 1 ½ tbsp chilli powder
• 2 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1kg boneless beef, cut into strips
• Water, as needed

For the stirfry

• 4 ½ tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 small onions, thinly sliced
• 1 ½ tbsp minced ginger
• 1 ½ tbsp minced garlic
• Small handful dried whole chilli
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 4 bunches kangkung (removed from the stems and roughly chopped)
• Cooked beef

 

Cook the beef (I used a pressure cooker and waited for about 4 whistles), with all the ingredients mentioned. If you want to cook the beef the night before like I did, make sure you refrigerate the beef with the stock, and then drain it before you make the stirfry. 

Heat 3 tbsp butter in a wok. Add the beef and heat through (this is because I made cooked the beef the night before and kept it in the fridge. If you just finished cooking the beef, heat all the butter in the wok and continue with the recipe), and then add the remaining butter. Add the onions, ginger and garlic, and the dried chillies. Mix in the oyster and soy sauces, and then the chilli flakes. Mix well and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the kangkong, mix and cook on low heat until the leaves have just wilted, and immediately turn off the heat.
Serve hot, with rice.