Simple "Red" Soup

Here's a humble dish of Red Spinach (bayam merah) soup with dried anchovies (ikan bilis) prepared over a weekend... to soothe a soul that longs to revive something familiar from the past.


Suddenly missing my mother's cooking as well as contemplating the need to incorporate extra fibre into my diet at the same time, I bought some bayam merah at the local night market on one fine Friday evening. It was sold at only RM 1 per stalk (but I'm not sure how many gram was it). This soup is very simple, easy to prepare and delicious.

The ingredients and method are as follow:

Ingredients:
1. Red spinach
2. Garlic (minced)
3. Dried anchovies (soaked in hot water for a few minutes)
4. A small piece of ginger (lightly-crushed)
5. Salt (and seasoning or ikan bilis stock if you like) to taste
6. A bowl of water

Method:
1. Stir-fry the garlic, anchovies and ginger in a wok until golden brown.
2. Add water directly into the wok and allow to boil.
3. Add spinach into the boiling water.
4. Add salt (and seasoning if you prefer) according to your taste. For this soup, I only used salt and a very minute pinch of seasoning.
5. Continue boiling until the spinach soften, but please do ensure that they're not overcooked.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes