Chinese celery is very aromatic and grassy, almost like an intensified flavour of regular celery hence I seldom ate it and never cooked with it previously because of that. However, my opinion of Chinese celery had kinda changed since eating the oyster cake from Teochew Meat Puff. I had probably acquired the taste for it so I longer reject it. Like how I used to say – tastebuds do change with age, lol.
And so for my first attempt at using Chinese celery in my cooking, I made a simple chicken stir fry with garlic and Chinese celery. Both went quite well together although the Chinese celery was still slightly more overpowering in flavour. Loved that slight crunch so this stir fry wouldn’t taste so flat.
I’m a huge fan of garlic and that’s why I added like two bulbs of garlic into this dish. If you’re worried the garlic would be too pungent for your liking, fret not ‘cos by frying the garlic slightly beforehand, it would make the garlic taste milder and sweeter.
Give it a try! 😉
GARLIC CHICKEN WITH CHINESE CELERY RECIPE
INGREDIENTS (serves 3-4 as one of few side dishes)
- 500g boneless & skinless chicken leg meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 bulbs garlic, peeled & sliced
- 2 stalks Chinese celery, sliced into 1″ sections
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp waterdash of ground white pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat oil in pan and fry the garlic till slightly golden brown.
- Add the chicken and stir fry briefly till meat is no longer pink.
- Add water, light and dark soy sauces.
- Put on the pan lid and let the chicken cook for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the Chinese celery and season with pepper.
- Serve with steamed rice and enjoy.