Make This Classic Celery Dish That Beijingers Love

Su Dongpo, a famous poet from the Northern Song Dynasty who was also a bit of a foodie, once confessed his love for celery, dedicating the third poem of his Eight Poems of Dongpo to the plant. In the poem, who essentially wrote how he felt celery should be best enjoyed with the phrase: 芹芽脍，杂鸠肉为之 Qín yá kuài, zá jiū ròu wéi zhī, which translates to: celery is best eaten with the meat of turtle dove.

Today, celery is still an essential side dish that many Beijingers simply can't live without and one can often find it in classic Chinese dishes like hearty dumplings, pan-fried meat pies, and even in zhajiangmian.

Chinese celery (芹菜 Qíncài) is a little bit different from Western celery (欧芹 Ōuqín). Not only are the stalks of Chinese celery thinner, the texture is a bit more tender than the one most reach for when making a tuna salad or a Bloody Mary. When eaten raw, the flavors are somewhat pungent and peppery, however, once cooked, it becomes slightly sweet and mellow with a soft texture.  Below is my family's classic recipe of stir-fried pork with celery that we always made in winter!

Ingredients:
400 g of Chinese celery
200 g of pork
1 tbsp of green onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp of Chinese soy sauce, divided
2 dried chilis, chopped and deseeded
1 tsp of salt
2 slices of ginger, chopped into 2.5 cm strips
1 tsp of vinegar
1 egg
1 tbsp of cooking oil

Step 1

Prepare the celery by slicing it diagonally into two centimeter long strips.

Step 2

Cut meat into thin one inch strips. In a bowl, add the meat, one tablespoon of soy sauce, vinegar, and a lightly beaten egg. Then cover the bowl and let the mixture marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Step 3

In a wok over high heat, add the cooking oil, chilies, green onions, and ginger. Stir until they become fragrant before adding in the pork. Stir and cook until the pork begins to brown, and then add in the second tablespoon of soy sauce and stir until everything is mixed well

Step 4

Add in the celery. Stir everything to combine and then continue to cook until the celery becomes wilted. Then add some salt for seasoning.

Step 5

Turn off the heat, plate up the pork with celery, and enjoy!

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Images: Irene Li, Unsplash