Stir-fried celery with black bean sauce

Servings: 4
Celery’s robust texture makes it a fine candidate for stir-frying, and its stringiness can be mitigated by slicing against the grain to break up the fibres. Douchi aka: salted black bean is not to be confused with the kind of black beans you’ll find in a tin and use for Central/South American cooking. You’ll find these sold in a bag or cannister at larger supermarkets and at Asian grocers. The best part about buying some is that since they’re salted and fermented, they last for ages in the pantry! Indeed, they’ve found remnants in crocks at archaeological digs from thousands of years ago (about as old as the bag in the back of my pantry). These black, shrivelled soy beans have been imparting salty-savouriness to Chinese cookery – particularly Cantonese dishes and those from Sichuan and Hunan province for over 2000 years. If you’re a fan of funk, and big flavour, you can add a teaspoon or so of black bean to steamed dishes like mapo tofu or veg and black bean stir fries like this one, along with other usual suspects like garlic and ginger. The saltiness is mellowed with soaking and through cooking, but just remember to hold back on correcting for seasoning until you’ve tasted the final result.
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Ingredients 

  • 2 heaped tablespoons fermented black beans
  • ½ bunch celery 4-5 rib lengths
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil like grapeseed or rice bran
  • 5 spring onions scallions
  • cup roasted cashews
  • 2 cloves garlic peeled and grated
  • 1 thumb ginger peeled and grated
  • 2 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp cornflour
  • ½ cup of water

Instructions 

  • Rinse then soak the fermented black beans for 5 minutes in cold water, then drain and roughly chop.
  • Meanwhile, heat the wok and slice the celery and spring onions into 1cm slices on a diagonal bias.
  • When the wok is smoking hot, add the celery and splash in a quarter cup of water. Allow this to evaporate on a medium-high heat (2-3 minutes), then splash in the oil and let the celery keep colouring and softening for another 3 minutes, tossing about frequently.
  • Mix up the sauce ingredients in a jug or bowl, and stir through the chopped black bean. Set aside.
  • Add the spring onion to the hot wok, stir fry for another 2 minutes, the cashews and stir-fry for 2 more minutes.
  • Give the sauce one more stir and pour it over the veg in the wok, letting it thicken up for a minute or so, then switch off the heat.
  • Serve over rice, or as a handy side.

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