Adobong kangkong (water spinach cooked adobo-style)

Adobong kangkong on a serving platter

Kangkong is a tropical plant that is commonly eaten in Southeast Asian countries as a green vegetable, much like we eat spinach, collard greens  or Swiss chard. It tastes somewhat like mind-flavored spinach. Both the stems and leaves are consumed. In the Philippines, kangkong is usually braised with various seasonings including vinegar in the adobo style.

If you can't find fresh kangkong where you are, feel free to substitute fresh spinach or your favorite green. I don't think mustard greens would do well in this dish, though: their flavor's too strong.

I made this last Friday evening. My wife was planning to do the cooking but some company stopped by, so she went outside (away from the barking dogs) to entertain them while I minded our dogs. We were both pretty hungry so I decided to do the sous-chefery and prep everything for her to save time, and then I decided I may as well pre-cook the pork too, and when that was done it was simplest to just finish everything off and cook the whole bloody thing. :) I was just going to invite our guests to come inside and join us for dinner but when I did they were just leaving, so we had it all to ourselves. It was scrumptious!

Ingredients:

Two good-sized bundles of kangkong (about 20 plants per bundle)

About a cup of fatty pork, cut into small cubes

One purple onion* peeled and coarsely chopped

One head of garlic, about 12 cloves, peeled and thickly sliced

Water

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup cane or white vinegar

Two dried bay leaves

Two teaspoons ground black pepper

One large pork bouillon cube dissolved in 1 cup of hot water

Two tablespoons of palm oil or your favorite cooking oil (not olive oil)

Salt and pepper to taste

(Optional): two cloves of garlic, minced and fried in hot oil until brown and crispy, as a garnish

Instructions:

Prepare the pork, onions and garlic as per above

Cut the kangkung into inch-long pieces, separating the leaves and the stems into separate bowls. Wash both well and drain in a colander.

Place the pork meat in a large nonstick skillet. Add enough water to cover the meat halfway (about a cup.) Bring to a boil on medium or medium-high heat and continue boiling, stirring and turning the meat occasionally, until all the water has boiled away. (Make sure all the water is gone or you'll get splattered and burned when you add the oil.)

Reduce heat to medium if necessary. Add the oil, onion and garlic. Stir then cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion pieces separate and start getting tender: about a minute or two.

Add the soy sauce. Stir and cook for another minute until the pork is nicely brown-colored.

Add the water with the dissolved bouillon cube, the vinegar, the bay leaves and the kangkong stems. Stir. Heat until bubbly (you can raise the heat again if you're in a hurry), cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the stems are tender and have changed color from bright green to more of an olive drab green.

Add half the leaves. Stir and cook, covered,  until amount is reduced to about half the volume of the fresh leaves (some of the moisture in the leaves gets cooked out.) Add the remaining leaves, stir well, cover and cook until all is tender and has changed color. Add the pepper, stir well, then add salt and pepper to taste, if required.

Note: add a little more water during cooking if it looks too dry.

Place in a serving bowl. Sprinkle with the fried, crispy garlic if used. Serve with hot rice. Serves four.


*Note: onions in the Philippines are quite a bit smaller than those in North America and Europe. People in those locales can use half of a medium-sized onion instead. We use purple onions because 1) they're locally grown, hence cheapest and 2) their flavor is quite strong: a little goes a long way as opposed to the milder (and larger) white onions. You can use whatever kind you like.