Vegetables
Chinese Amaranth
A tender Hong Kong leafy vegetable with soft oval leaves and usually solid stems; varieties may be green or red-veined.
- 繁體中文
- 莧菜
- English
- Chinese Amaranth
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Bayam / Chinese Amaranth (莧菜)
- Tagalog
- Chinese Amaranth (莧菜)
What is it?
莧菜 is listed by FEHD as Chinese spinach. This guide uses Chinese amaranth to distinguish it from ordinary spinach.
How to identify it
Look for soft oval leaves, clear veins and tender solid stems. Varieties may be green or red-purple, so colour alone is not reliable.
- Soft oval or broad leaves
- Tender stems normally solid rather than hollow
- Green and red-veined varieties both occur
Common confusion
Chinese amaranth has soft broad leaves and solid stems; water spinach has long hollow stems and more pointed leaves.
Common Hong Kong household uses
Commonly stir-fried with garlic or cooked in soup.
Preparation or handling
Remove tough stems and yellow leaves, wash leaf by leaf under running water and drain.
Storage
Keep unwashed and dry in the refrigerator and use soon.
Helper tip
Water spinach has long clearly hollow stems and narrower pointed leaves; Chinese amaranth normally has solid stems.
What Ma’am or Sir may say
今晚蒜蓉炒莧菜。The employer wants Chinese amaranth stir-fried with garlic, not water spinach or ordinary spinach.
Useful market phrase
唔該要一斤嫩莧菜。