Potato And Spinach Soup

Sometimes I yearn to eat spinach. I like the taste and soft texture. Here in Malaysia we usually did not consume spinach but amaranth leaves. There are many varieties of  amaranth leaves but the most commonly consumed are green amaranth, green and red amaranth and red amaranth. We usually call this amaranth as spinach. This is a recipe for cooking green amaranth leaves but maybe it can be substituted with green spinach. 

This soup is usually served as side dish to rice. It can be eaten with rice and fried fish, fried chicken or meat, curry and many more. This soup can also be eaten on its own. 

I used anchovies as the base flavor of the soup. But you can also use dried shrimp, fresh shrimp or beef instead of anchovies. The taste will be different though. 

Ready in 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 cups of green spinach
• 2 medium sized potatoes
• 3 shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 medium sized tomato
• 2 tablespoon anchovies
• 1 bird eye chili (optional)
• 2 cups of water
• 3 to 5 tablespoons cooking oil
• Salt and sugar to taste

Some of the ingredients.

Green amaranth leaves.

Methods

• Cut potatoes into large cubes. The larger the size the more time needed to cook it. 
• Prepare the spinach and cut tomato into your preferred shape. 
• Slice shallots, garlic and bird eye chili. You can also pound them using mortar and pestle. 
• Heat the cooking oil in a pan. 
• Fry the potatoes until they become a bit golden. Then, remove from the heat and set aside. 
• By using the same oil, fry the anchovies until a bit golden and aromatic. 
• Add in sliced shallots, garlic and chili. Fry until golden and aromatic. 
• Add in water. Cook until the water boils. 
• Then, add in potatoes. 
• When potatoes become tender, add in tomato and spinach. 
• Add salt and sugar to your preferred taste. 

Some of the process. Here I tried to pound the fried anchovies but later I found out that the soup became too crowded with the small particles of anchovies. 

Finished soup.