This veggie-forward Chinese recipe uses the beef as a secondary ingredient so the celery can truly shine.
Happy almost Chinese New Year! At the end of this week, we will be beginning the year of the horse. Although I'm not Chinese myself, I do love representing Chinese food and culture whenever I can because it's definitely one of my favorite ethnic cuisines.
On Wednesday I plan on sharing a roundup of Chinese and Chinese-inspired recipes from my blog in honor of the occasion, but before we get to that, I wanted to add another Chinese recipe to the mix.
One of my go-to Chinese cookbooks is Every Grain of Rice. I love that the recipes featured in the book are authentic Chinese dishes as opposed to Americanized imitations. I also love that most of the recipes are vegetable-centric, and the one I'm sharing today is no exception.
Although it't not vegetarian (it contains ground beef), the main ingredient here is definitely celery, which maintains a delicious crunch in this quick stir-fry. Utilizing a lot of flavor and spice from Sichuan chili bean paste and ginger, this is great way to cut down on the amount of meat in your diet while still giving it a cameo.
I actually doubled the recipe when I made it, using 8 ounces of beef and a TON of celery, and served it with brown jasmine rice and some stir-fried Swiss chard. It was a very satisfying meal, light on the calories and high on flavor.
Other recipes you may like
- Chinese Spicy Vegetable Fried Rice
- Stir-fried Greens with Dried Shrimp
- Strange Flavor (Bang Bang) Chicken
- Chinese Stir-Fried Oyster Mushrooms with Chicken
- Homemade Pork and Vegetable Egg Rolls
- Browse all Chinese Recipes
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Sichuanese “Send-the-Rice-Down” Chopped Celery with Ground Beef
Ingredients
- 11 ounces (300 grams) celery
- ½ tablespoon cooking oil
- 4 ounces (100 grams) ground beef
- 1 ½ tablespoons Sichuan chili bean paste
- 1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped ginger
- Light soy sauce to taste (optional)
- 1 teaspoon Chinkiang vinegar
Instructions
- De-string the celery sticks and cut them lengthwise into ¾ inch (1 cm) strips. Finely chop the strips. Bring some water to a boil and blanch the celery for about 30 seconds to “break its rawness.” Drain well.
- Heat the oil in a seasoned wok over high heat. Add the ground beef and stir-fry until it is cooked and fragrant, pressing it with the back of your wok scoop or ladle to break it apart. Then add the chili bean paste and continue to stir until you can smell it and the oil has reddened. Add the ginger and stir-fry for a few moments more to release its fragrance, then add all the celery.
- Continue to stir-fry until the celery is piping hot, seasoning with a little soy sauce, if you wish. Finally, stir in the vinegar and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
*All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.*
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