Traditional Malay Recipes, p. 34
8
oz/250g bayam/spinach
1 tbsp
cooking/salad oil
2
shallots (finely sliced)
¼ cup/60
ml water
1 red
chilli (thinly sliced diagonally)
Salt &
MSG (optional) to taste
Pounded Ingredients
2
oz/60g dried ikan bilis/anchovies (cleaned, soaked & drained)
3
cloves garlic
 |
| Instead of shallots, I just used part of an onion I had laying around. And a jalapeno. |
Separate leaves from bayam stalks. Discard roots and harder
stems.
Cut remaining stalks to 1 in/2.5 cm lengths and pull off
outer covering. Wash and drain the vegetable.
Heat oil and add pounded ingredients.
 |
| I wasn't sure how to go about "pounding" the ingredients, so I just threw in some chopped garlic and anchovy fillets. |
Add shallots and fry
for 2 minutes. Reduce heat.
 |
| The brown anchovy juice starts splattering all over everything when the oil gets sizzling, so be careful. |
Mix in water, chilli and seasoning to taste. Simmer covered
for 3 minutes. Add bayam stalks and continue simmering covered another 1-2
minutes.
Add bayam leaves and turn off heat. Cover and let cook in
the steam for 1-2 minutes. Adjust seasoning and mix well.
 |
| I used spinach leaves in a bag, so I only did the latter step. |
Dish up and serve immediately with boiled white rice, fried
fish and a sambal.
 |
| I served mine with Hawaiian rolls. Because globalization. And also because that was cheaper. |
My Rating: 3/5 "A unique flavor, albeit kind of bitter. I mean, it's spinach. It's a nice counterpoint to other different kinds of tastes, and would be a nice balance for something spicy (as the recipe suggests)."
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