What is Morning Glory made of?
Stir fried morning Glory , also known as Asian Water Spinach, is a green Vegetable from South East Asia. Morning Glory stir fry or “Pad Pak Boong” in Thai, is a fresh and juicy vegetable dish famous in South East Asia and China. This lovely green and umami stir-fry dish is mostly served as a side dish for lunch or dinner, but you can also have it as a main dish.
Stir-fried Morning Glory is made by stir-frying sliced Morning Glory stems and leaves in a wok together with garlic, chilli, oyster sauce, soybean paste (in the Thai recipe), soy sauce or other ingredients depending on the recipe.
This makes Stir-fried Morning Glory one of the most popular green side dishes in Asia, which goes super well together with rice and other protein side dishes. There are several variations of morning glory stir fry, and my recipe will be a slight mix between a Pad Pak Boong from Thailand and a morning glory stir fry from China.
Stir-Fried Morning Glory – Table of contents
Exploring the Origins of Morning Glory in Thai Cooking
Water Morning Glory or Pad Pak Boong fai daeng is a leafy green vegetable side dish originated in Thailand. Over time, this great dish became a famous Street Food in Thailand but is also widely popular in many other Southeast Asian countries and to be found in most Thai Restaurants.
I discovered this delicious morning glory dish for the first time in China, served with rice. From the beginning, I was in love not only with the freshness and flavours of this aromatic dish but also with the crisp texture & juicy umami sauce.
Understanding the Nutritional Benefits of Morning Glory
Fresh Thai Water Spinach is high in Vitamine C and Vitamine A but also rich in minerals and quite low in calories. This makes this Thai side dish a quite healthy meal depending on the amount of oil used when frying or the amount of sugar or other ingredients in the sauce.
Click here for more information and facts about Asian Water Spinach aka. “Ipomoea aquatic“.
Ingredients you need for this Recipe
For my stir-fry Morning Glory, which is kind of a Thai & Chinese Recipe blend, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Fresh Thai Water Spinach
- Garlic Cloves
- Vegetable Oil
- Red Thai Chilies
- light soy sauce
- sugar
- Shaoxing Wine (Chinese Rice Wine)
- Oyster Sauce
- Fresh Ginger
Recipe Video
How to cook Stir Fried Morning Glory – Step-by-Step
The good thing about this and many other Stir Fry Dishes, is that it is pretty easy and quick to make! The best approach is to prepare all the ingredients beforehand and making a mise-en-place, so you can then fry everything together quickly. These are the steps to make my stir fried Morning Glory Recipe:
Step 1: The Mise en Place
First, peel the garlic cloves and ginger and cut the ginger into thin strips. Also, cut off the stems from the chillies and put them together with the ginger and garlic cloves into a pestle & mortar. Roughly crush them together and put them aside.
Wash the Water Spinach under running water and cut the stems into Index finger-long pieces. The leaves you can cut into bigger pieces but put them aside in another bowl.
Measure and prepare the sugar and if you like, all the sauces. For sure you can measure the sauces just by feel and add them directly from the bottles.
Step 2: Stir Fry
Not the time has come to stir fry everything together in a hot Wok or pan. Heat the Wok to high heat and add the vegetable oil. When the oil starts to smoke, first add the Water Spinach stems. Add the sugar and the mashed ginger-garlic-chili and stir well together for about 2-3 minutes. Now add the soy sauce, oyster sauce and Shaoxing wine together with the morning glory leaves.
Keep stirring together for about 1-2 minutes or until the leaves turn soft. Serve the Water Spinach on a big plate or a bowl and you’re ready to enjoy this lovely Asian Stir-Fry Dish!
Experimenting with Different Flavors and Seasonings for Stir-Fried Morning Glory
While for an authentic Thai Pad Pak Boong, you’ll use soybean paste and fish sauce but no ginger, for a Chinese one you’ll use ginger and rice wine instead. There are several varieties of stir-fried Morning Glory but all of them will taste amazing. So after testing this recipe a lot, my favourite combination was something between a Thai and Chinese version of it.
Other seasonings you could add are some pure sesame oil at the end or experiment with small cuts of meat or even tofu.
How to Adjust the Spice Level in a Stir-Fried Morning Glory Recipe?
You can easily adjust the spice level of a stir-fried Morning Glory by using just one or less chillies or adding slightly more sugar. The sugar will counterpart the heat from the chillies.
Exploring Vegan and Gluten-Free Alternatives in Thai Cooking
If you want to make a vegan morning glory stir fry, you can use mushroom stir fry sauce instead of oyster sauce in this recipe. Also replace the Oyster Sauce if you want a gluten-free dish, as this sauce might contain wheat.
FAQ’s about Morning Glory
I guess the best alternative for Asian Water Spinach would be e Bok Choy as it has a similar texture in the bite. But you might also use regular Spinach or Kale instead.
Cook vegetables and proteins separately, and only combine when both are ready. Only use 1-2 vegetables per stir fry. Add the Liquids at the end when everything else is ready and all ingredients are evenly cooked.
Morning Glory is quite healthy, low in calories and packed with Vitamine-C & Vitamine-A and Minerals.
What to eat with Morning Glory?
This dish is the perfect vegetable side dish for other Asian recipes or just to eat with plain rice. Here are a few Asian recipes you could combine with Stir Fried Morning Glory:
Authentic Sichuan Mapo Tofu Recipe 麻婆豆腐
Chili Garlic Udon Noodles
Filipino Chicken Adobo, the most savory chicken stew recipe ever?!
Stir Fried Morning Glory – Pad Pak Boong
Equipment
- 1 large Wok or large frying pan
Ingredients
- 500 g Thai Morning Glory (Thai Water Spinach)
- 1 thumb fresh ginger
- 5 cloves garlic
- 4 red thai chillies
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing Wine (Chinese Rice Wine)
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil rapeseed oil
Instructions
Preparation – Mise en Place
- Peel the fresh ginger and garlic cloves and cut the ginger into thin stripes. Cut away the green stems from the fresh red Thai chillies. Put all three ingredients into a pestle & mortar and roughly grind and mash them into each other. Put them by side for later.1 thumb fresh ginger, 4 red thai chillies, 5 cloves garlic
- Wash the Water Spinach under running water and cut the stems into index-finger long pieces. Put them into a bowl. Cut the leaves into bigger pieces and put them into a seperate bowl.500 g Thai Morning Glory (Thai Water Spinach)
- If you like, you can already measure the sugar and sauces with small bowles, but for sure you can just measure by hand and adding the sauces when frying.
Stir Fry
- Put the wok to the stove and set to high heat. Now add the vegetable oil and distribute in the wok. When the oil starts to smoke, add the Morning Glory stems, mashed garlic, chillies and ginger so as the sugar.1 tbsp sugar, 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- Fry everything together for about 2-3 minutes. Then add the oyster sauce, soy sauce and Shaoxing wine. Also add the leaves now. Keep stirring together for about 1-2 more minutes or until the leaves turned soft.2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp Shaoxing Wine (Chinese Rice Wine), 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- Serve the greens on a large plate and enjoy your freshly made stir fried Thai dish!