Stir-Fried Water Spinach Microgreens, Pad Pak Bung Style

Pad pak bung fai daeng is the stir-fry everyone in Thailand knows: water spinach thrown into a flaming wok with garlic, chilli and a salty sauce. Made with water spinach microgreens, it keeps the same flavours but changes the timing completely. The shoots are far more tender than mature stems, so they need seconds rather than minutes.

Ingredients (2 people as a side)

• About 140g water spinach microgreens (two of our punnets)
• 4 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
• 2–4 bird's eye chillies, lightly crushed
• 1 tbsp fermented soybean paste (tao jiao)
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1–2 tbsp water

Method

• Mix the soybean paste, oyster sauce, sugar and water in a small bowl. Have everything next to the stove before you turn it on — this goes fast.
• Heat the wok until it smokes, then add the oil.
• Add the garlic and chillies and stir for a few seconds, until fragrant but not brown.
• Add the water spinach shoots and pour the sauce over them.
• Toss hard for 30–45 seconds, until the leaves just wilt and the stems are still crisp.
• Tip onto a plate straight away. Left in the wok, they keep cooking.

Variations

• No soybean paste — use 1½ tbsp oyster sauce instead. Milder, still good.
• Vegetarian — replace the oyster sauce with a mushroom-based vegetarian stir-fry sauce.
• With pork — fry a little minced pork before the garlic, then carry on as above.
• Sunflower shoots — the same method works. Our garlic stir-fried sunflower microgreens is the version without soybean paste.

What to serve it with

Rice, and something with a little richness: an omelette, grilled pork neck, or fried fish. The leftovers do not keep well — it is best eaten hot.

Getting water spinach microgreens

We sow water spinach microgreens to order, so check the product page for when your order will be cut. You can also grow them yourself in about ten days — see how to grow water spinach microgreens.