Monday, February 17, 2014

Weed or vegetable?

Recently we noticed a new vegetable dish on the menu of a coffee-shop-restaurant that we frequent. The name is "田七菜" (Tián qī cài where the literal translation is as follows: 田 = paddy field, 七 = seven, 菜 = vegetable) and we ordered it to see what sort of vegetable it is.

A google search revealed that it is known as Madeira Vine or Mignonette Vine or Anredera cordifolia. Many countries considered it as a weed and pest as it grows easily and can kill other plants and trees that it grows on. However its bulbil is used as a herb in Chinese Medicine for tonifying kidney, removing stasis and dispersing swelling according to the Medicinal Plant Images Database created by the School of Chinese Medicine and the Hong Kong Baptist University Library.

Stirfried 田七菜 - the taste is slightly bitter and the leaves are thick with a smooth slippery texture (mucilaginous texture) similar to the texture of Malabar Spinach (帝王苗 - Dìwáng miáo).

Fleshy heart-shaped leaf

10 comments:

  1. vege. hard to find here but can find in Bentong

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    Replies
    1. I think you can easily plant it in your vege garden as it grows very fast.

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  2. Why the leaf so big? Can't cut it smaller???

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  3. I love this tian qi vegetables! But hardly seen it...

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    1. I also have not seen it being sold in markets. Just saw it being listed in the menu board in the restaurant.

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  4. I like this veggie but never knew its name. Just stir fried with anchovies and salt. Yummy. Crunchy.

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  5. that looks like potato leaves....

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    Replies
    1. Potato leaves? You mean sweet potato leaves? This vege does not taste like sweet potatoes leaves. This one is thicker and has very slippery texture and is slightly bitter.

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