Spicy Celery Stir Fry Recipe

It’s not often that a Vegetable Side Dish takes the main stage on the table, however this amazing Spicy Celery Stir Fry does just that! The huge flavors that are packed into this unassuming bowl of goodness must be tasted to be believed. This classic Chinese dish packs a rich, sweet flavor with the use of Fermented Bean Paste as the base, and there’s no shortage of spice with the addition of Chili! This simple dish is great to enjoy as a side or make a larger portion and it’s just as good as the main course!

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Inspiration for this recipe

When it comes to amazing Asian cuisine you can make at home you can’t look past the amazing Maggie Zhu from Omnivore’s Cookbook. We love trying out her recipes and this Spicy Celery Stir Fry is one of them! We made a few little tweaks along the way in our version but it’s pretty much true to the original. Check out her blog for some tasty Chinese cooking

Tweaks that we have made to the recipe

The main alteration we made to our version of this Spicy Celery Stir Fry is using a Spicy Fermented Bean Paste instead of adding Chili as a separate ingredient. Honestly, this was mainly due to availability of the product in our area, but the results were phenomenal

I found that by using the Spicy Fermented Bean Paste you’re able to cut out a bit of time when making the recipe, and who isn’t a fan of saving time in the kitchen? You can find Bean Paste at most grocery stores, but if you can’t then it’ll be available at your local specialty Asian grocery store

Celery with Spicy Bean Paste — For simplicity, we recommend using Spicy Black Bean Paste when making this recipe

How to make this delicious Spicy Celery Stir Fry

As the name suggests, this is a Stir Fry recipe, so you’ll be cooking everything fast and at a high heat. So, it’s best to prepare all your ingredients before you begin cooking. There’s not a lot of ingredients so the prep time should easily be under 10 minutes

The first step is to make our sauce, which is a combination of Oyster Sauce, Sugar, Corn Starch, and a bit of Water to loosen everything up. Mix all these ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside as you add some Vegetable Oil (or any other neutral Oil) in a large wok or frying pan set over high heat

Allow the pan to be cranking with heat. You’ll not be able to get your home stovetop as hot as they get it in your local Chinese Restaurant, but you can still get the pan plenty hot. Once the Oil is shimmering and you can feel the heat emanating off the pan, it’s time to cook

First step is adding some aromatics to the pan

As with a lot of classic Chinese stir fry dishes, the first ingredients to hit the hot pan are aromatics. This step is no exception when it comes to cooking Spicy Celery Stir Fry. Into the pan goes some finely diced Garlic, Ginger, and that Fermented Black Bean Paste

Be a little careful when adding these ingredients to the pan because of the heat. You may get a bit of a reaction from the pan (especially when the Bean Paste goes in), so just watch out for any spitting from the Oil

With aromatics, you don’t want to cook them for a long time. Especially when cooking a stir fry over such high heat. The best test is to cook them until you can really smell them in the air. In this case, cooking them for 30 seconds will do the job

How to make Spicy Celery Stir Fry — To make the Spicy Celery Stir Fry, simply add some Aromatics, the Celery, and a simple Sauce and stir fry for a few minutes until done

Once aromatic, it’s time to add Celery. We use about 1 lb. of Celery for this recipe, which will easily be enough for 4 people to enjoy the dish as a side. Cut the Celery into fairly large chunks about ½ inch thick. For some fancy presentation, cut them on a 45-degree angle. It won’t impact the cooking time at all, they just look a little fancier!

Cook the Celery for about 3 minutes before adding the sauce we prepared earlier

The Celery will take a little longer to stir fry, about 3 minutes or so. You don’t want to overcook Celery, and given you can enjoy this ingredient raw, I find it’s always better to slightly under cook them than over cook them

After 3 minutes or cooking while stirring continuously, add a splash of water to the pan to deglaze it. This will help to remove any of the bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Not only does this prevent them from burning, but it releases their wonderful flavors back into the stir fry

The final cooking step is to add that Oyster Sauce mixture we made earlier. Give it a little mix in the bowl before adding it to the hot pan and stir well. The Sauce will thicken up almost immediately in the pan, so after 1 minute of stirring the dish is now done!

Spicy Celery Stir Fry with Sesame Seeds — We like to finish off the Spicy Celery Stir Fry with some Sesame Seeds for an authentic look

Plating

Remove the Spicy Celery Stir Fry from the pan, as it’ll continue to cook even once you take it off the heat so it’s best to serve immediately. For a finishing touch, sprinkle over some Sesame Seeds and it’s ready to serve! You can also add some freshly chopped Chili, or even some fresh herbs if you like to brighten up the whole dish

You can enjoy this delicious Vegetarian Side with so many different main courses. It naturally will pair great with Chinese dishes, so a beautiful Stir Fry or even something fancy like a whole Roasted Chicken is going to taste great. It’s such a versatile dish that you really can enjoy it alongside any main course, and it will taste amazing

Recipe Details

Servings

2 – 4 people

Prep time

10 minutes

Cooking time

5 minutes

Total time

15 minutes