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空心菜, photo 1 of 2
空心菜, photo 2 of 2

Photo credit

Photo
90 - CIMG0865
By
Susan Slater
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Source
Wikimedia Commons
Changes
Cropped and resized

Photo credit

Photo
空心菜 - 深圳
By
Mx. Granger
Licence
CC0
Source
Wikimedia Commons
Changes
Cropped and resized

空心菜

kōngxīncài
noun

Measure Word

一把空心菜 bǎ

Meanings

  1. 1 water spinach
  2. 2 morning glory (the leafy vegetable)
  3. 3 ong choy

About the ingredient

蔬菜 Vegetables · In season: summer and autumn

Long, hollow stems with arrow-shaped leaves; the stems stay crunchy while the leaves wilt soft. Stir-fried fast with garlic, chili or fermented tofu, or with shrimp paste in Hong Kong.

Also called  蕹菜、 通菜、 藤藤菜

Examples

HSK 7-9
蒜蓉空心菜是广东人夏天最爱的家常菜。
Suànróng kōngxīncài shì Guǎngdōng rén xiàtiān zuì ài de jiāchángcài.
Garlic water spinach is Cantonese people's favorite home dish in summer.
HSK 7-9
空心菜的茎是空的，所以叫这个名字。
Kōngxīncài de jīng shì kōng de, suǒyǐ jiào zhège míngzi.
Water spinach has a hollow stem, which is how it got its name.

Tips

memory
空 (hollow) + 心 (heart/core) + 菜 (vegetable) = 'hollow-stemmed vegetable'. The name is literally a description of the plant.
culture
Also called 蕹菜 in formal/southern contexts. Popular across southern China and Southeast Asia; stir-fried with garlic or fermented bean curd.

Stroke Order

空 kōng
心 xīn
菜 cài