What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Morning glory, or water spinach, is a widely used ingredient in Southeast Asian cooking. The tops and leaves are typically boiled or stir-fried. In Vietnam, the stems are commonly found in canh (soup) and xà lách (salad). The versatile ingredient is prized for its culinary potential and has a subtle, earthy flavor. In order to make the slightly tough stems easier on the palate, they can be cut up by hand, but that's only if you don't have a dao chẻ rau muống. The name translates to "knife for splitting water spinach" and was designed for the sole purpose of preparing the vegetable. Here's a play by play of a dao chẻ rau muống in action.

The label: "Seagul 100% Inox stainless dao chẻ rau muống vegetables saparable knife made in Vietnam"

Guarded by a plastic tube, the whole thing is about 10 inches long. Eleven blades are layed out in a star shape in the orange top which split the stems into 12 pieces.

A dao chẻ rau muống ready for action.

The morning glory is cut into managable-sized pieces, making it easier to slide through the blades.

Once the hollow stems get threaded onto the knife, it's go time. 1, 2...

3! The vegetable comes out the end of the dao chẻ rau muống in thin, symetrical ribbons, providing texture when added to soup or making for light salads when dressed, in typical Vietnamese fashion, with fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar, garlic, chilies, and shallots. To make it a meal, pork and shrimp frequently accompany morning glory salads.