Stir fried emperor vegetable (王帝菜)

This is a super easy stir-fried vegetable which will become little bit sticky when cooked and some people don’t like the slimy texture but I love it. You can just simply fry it with garlic or with prawn sambal.

王帝菜 in Chinese means emperor's vegetable and it used to be a rare vegetable prepared only for the emperor. It is known as Basella or Malabar Spinach also vine spinach and there are two types, basella alba which features dark green leaves and green stem while basella rubra feature purplish stems and deep-green leaves with pink veins. Being a green leafy vegetable, it is high in vitamins A and C, iron, zinc, magnesium and calcium. A distinct feature of this vegetable is the succulent mucilage which helps to remove mucus and toxins from the body. It is very low in calories and fats and has cooling properties. It is not recommended for women during early pregnancy especially those with habitual abortion. 

Ingredients 

2 bundles of huang ti mui

It is best to buy more to allow for shrinkage

Remove the leaves from the stems

Soak in rice water for 10 minutes

Heat up a little oil and fry some chopped garlic until fragrant

Add the vegetable

Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar

Mix thoroughly

Dish up and garnish with a little fried shallots