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Stir Fry Beef with Celery Recipe

Ganbian (干煸) is a cooking technique translated as dry-stir fry; it means stir-frying the ingredients over medium or low heat until nicely charred to concentrate the flavor.  To prevent the meat from getting chewy, a bit of baking soda in the marinade is necessary. The beef tastes like a tender piece of jerky, spicy and numbing, with a bit of nuttiness - so delicious. You can serve it as a side dish. We also like to eat it as a beer snack.

Ingredients

To marinate the beef

  • 450 grams 1 lb of beef (Sirloin, flank steak, beef chuck)
  • 1/2 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of sugar
  • 1/3 tsp of baking soda
  • 1/5 tsp of 5 spice powder
  • 1 tbsp of soy sauce
  • 1/2 tbsp of dark soy sauce
  • 1 tsp of grated ginger
  • 1 clove of garlic grated

Others

  • 3-4 tbsp of oil
  • 1 tbsp Sichuan Dou ban Jiang
  • 2 tbsp of shredded ginger
  • 4 cloves of garlic sliced thinly
  • 6-10 dried red chilies cut open and seeded
  • 200 grams 7 oz of celery
  • 2-3 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine
  • 2 scallions cut into 2-inch long stalks
  • 1 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp of Sichuan peppercorn powder or to taste

Instructions

  • Cut the beef into 1/4 inch thick strips. Then marinate with salt, 5-spice powder, sugar, baking powder, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. Set it aside.
  • Cut the celery into 2.5 inches long, 1/4 inch thick sticks. Preferably use Chinese celery for a stronger fragrance.
  • Heat your wok over high heat until smoking hot. Then add a generous amount of oil and swirl it around.
  • Add the beef strips and spread them out. Pan fry for 20 seconds and flip to pan-fry the other side. Then stir the beef over medium heat for about 5 minutes until the beef is nicely charred.
  • Push the beef to the side. Add a tbsp of Sichuan Dou Ban Jiang and stir on low heat until the oil becomes bright red.
  • Add the ginger strips, garlic slices, seeded dried red chilies, and celery stalks. Stir for a couple of minutes. Add the Chinese cooking wine from the side of the wok to deglaze the bottom.
  • Add the scallion, toasted sesame seeds, and Sichuan peppercorn powder. Stir thoroughly and serve with white rice.

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