Chinese Spinach With Garlic

Spinach with minced garlic

Garlic spinach is the vegetable dish most Singapore households can cook without thinking, and it’s still the one most often ruined, usually by two minutes too long in the pan.

Cook it for three minutes, not six.

Chinese spinach collapses fast. The stems go in first and get about a minute; the leaves need barely thirty seconds after that. When the leaves have just wilted and the colour has deepened, it’s done.

Past that it goes khaki, slippery and faintly bitter, and no amount of garlic rescues it.

Ingredients

Serves 4, about 8 minutes

500g Chinese spinach (莧菜), or English spinach
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 slices ginger, shredded
2 tbsp neutral oil
2 tbsp water or stock
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp sugar
A few drops sesame oil, optional

Method

Wash properly. Chinese spinach holds grit at the base of the stems. Fill the sink, plunge it, swirl, lift the leaves out and leave the sand behind. Do it twice.
Separate stems from leaves. Cut the stems into 5cm lengths and keep the two piles apart. This is the whole reason the dish works.
Heat the oil over medium-high. Add the garlic and ginger and fry 20 to 30 seconds, until fragrant and just turning pale gold. Burnt garlic is bitter and there’s no way back.
Stems in first, tossed for about a minute.
Leaves in, with the water, salt and sugar. Toss hard for 30 to 60 seconds, no longer, until just wilted.
Off the heat. Add sesame oil if using and serve immediately, leaving the liquid behind in the pan or spooning it over the rice.

Notes

Reserve a little raw garlic to stir in at the very end for a sharper hit alongside the mellow fried garlic.
Chinese spinach releases pink liquid. This is normal and it stains the rice a cheerful colour that children either love or object to strongly.
Don’t cover the pan. Trapped steam is what turns green vegetables dull.
A splash of Shaoxing wine down the side of the wok adds depth if you have it open.
Fermented beancurd mashed in with the garlic is the other classic treatment, and a very good one.

What’s in it, and one caveat

Spinach is a good source of vitamin K, folate, vitamin A and fibre, and it does contain iron, but let’s be accurate about that.

The iron in spinach is non-haem iron, which the body absorbs far less efficiently than the iron in meat. Spinach also contains oxalates, which bind both iron and calcium and reduce how much of either is taken up. The popular idea that spinach is an iron powerhouse traces back to a much-repeated overstatement, not to the vegetable.

None of which is a reason to skip it. It’s nutritious. It’s a reason not to rely on it as the answer to low iron. Eating it alongside a source of vitamin C improves absorption, and where iron is a real concern, meat, fish and fortified foods do more work. Iron deficiency is common in women here and is a question for a doctor and a blood test, not a vegetable.

For children

Chop the stems small for young children. They’re fibrous and stringy, and a long piece of stem is awkward to manage. Reduce or omit the salt for anyone under one, and take a portion out before seasoning if a baby is eating.

Children who reject spinach on sight will sometimes accept it chopped through rice or folded into an omelette, where the texture that bothers them disappears.

Frequently asked questions

How do I stop spinach going soggy?

Cook it briefly and don’t cover the pan. Stems for a minute, leaves for thirty to sixty seconds, then straight out. Trapped steam is what dulls the colour.

Why is my garlic bitter?

It burnt. Garlic needs 20 to 30 seconds over medium-high heat, no more, and it should be pale gold rather than brown.

Is spinach a good source of iron?

Less than its reputation suggests. Its iron is non-haem and poorly absorbed, and the oxalates in spinach reduce absorption further. It’s nutritious, but it isn’t a treatment for low iron. That needs a doctor.

What’s the pink liquid?

Normal. Chinese spinach releases a pink-red juice as it cooks, which colours the rice. Harmless.

Can babies eat spinach?

Yes, chopped fine and unsalted. Take a portion out before seasoning, since salt shouldn’t be added for babies under one.

Summary

Wash twice, split stems from leaves, garlic for twenty seconds, stems for one minute, leaves for thirty seconds, out.

Don’t cover the pan and don’t walk away. And treat the iron reputation with some scepticism: it’s a good vegetable, not an iron supplement.