Sambal Sweet Potato Leaf
This sambal sweet potato leaf (参巴番薯叶) is our local zichar style of stir-frying greens in the wok. The sambal sauce (a spicy paste made with chillis, belacan and aromatics) gives this dish a hot and savoury punch. The home-cooked version is so much cheaper than ordering the dish outside so this is a dish that is worth my effort :) This recipe works well with kang kong (water spinach) too.
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Usually for sweet potato leaf stems, one will pull & discard the strings (pictured above) before snapping them to short pieces to improve the texture. However, I usually skip this as it is time-consuming, and I also dislike the mild milky sap when the stems are snapped.
So most of the time, I just snipped the stems using scissors, and my family says the taste is still good.
I’m using this bottle of instant sambal belacan paste. It saves me a lot of time, not having to make the sambal paste from scratch, which involves toasting the belacan (shrimp paste) and stinks up the kitchen. So this recipe is easy & fast enough for everyday cooking! If you have more time, you can use homemade sambal belacan to replace the instant sauce.
First posted on Nov 2009, updated on Jul 2019.
One of my favorite dishes to order when we eat out at Malaysian restaurants back in the States. Here in Malaysia, I think “Sabah vegetable” is the best leaf for this application. But this kind of veg is hard to come by.
I hope that one day, I can get my hands on the sabah vegetables you mentioned. It sounds delicious!
Mmmm Mmmm! Yums! They look perfect :)
This looks gorgeous….WOW! :up:
Sounds fantastic! I love greens cooked with chillis.
Yummy, one of my favorite veggies!
I miss this veg, wish I could get it here! Looks so delicious!
aww no sweet potato leaves in US? u can substitute with water spinach or other similar vegetables :)
This is one of my favs!!! Thanks for sharing this wonderful dish, you rock! 8)
Hope you like it :halo: It’s one of my faves as well!
this is awesome, I had sweet potato leaves (very healthy) in HK but not possible here. U make me hungry now : )
U can eat extra helpings of these Asian greens next time you’re back in HK and Asia :)
I love sweet potato leaves
Will try the recipe soon. I planted this veg in my small garden. When i am short of green vegetable, i will just take from the garden.
How lucky you are to enjoy them fresh from the garden! Hope you like the recipe :)