Tired at looking at all of this greenery? Here are a couple of only semi-green greens.
First up is amaranth. There are 70 different species, but the ones we get most often are Amaranthus dubius.
Quite distinctively red and green, this is a plant which grows worldwide and which is usually regarded as a weed, but in China is a well-liked foodstuff. And why not?
In Chinese it is usually 苋菜/莧菜 (Mand: xiàn cài; Cant: jin6 coi3), but is known in the local dialect as 汉菜/漢菜 (Mand: hàn cài; Cant: hon3 coi3) , which kind of means ‘Chinese vegetable’. In English and English renditions of Cantonese it is red spinach, Chinese spinach,, spleen amaranth, hon-toi-moi, yin choy, or hsien tsai.
These leaves can leech red juices which colour everything they meet. For that reason it tends to be less frequently used in soups etc, but is simply stir fried. The taste is reminiscent of spinach (hence one of its English names). It is also packed with minerals and vitamins and general good things.
