Seafood and Mountain Celery Stir-Fry

Inspired by a frequently visited Taiwanese teppanyaki place, and this teppan-style stir-fry using celery, carrot, squid, and shrimps was a staple dish there. So I took that idea and made my own at home.

Seafood and mountain celery stir-fry -

Ingredients?

• 180 grams shrimps
• 180 grams squid
• 1 small bundle mountain celery
• 1 small carrot
• 1/2 onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 to 2 red chilies
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
• 1/4 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Some black pepper

How?

Peel and devein the shrimps. Cut the squid into bite size chunks.

Peel and slice the onion. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Peel and grate the ginger. Destem and finely chop the red chilies. Section the mountain celery, about 2-inch in length. Peel and julienne the carrot. 

Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a wok and turn to high heat. Add in onion slices along with 1/8 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper. Give it a quick stir-fry till the onion turns translucent.

Add in garlic, red chilies, and grated ginger, cook for about 10 seconds, just before the garlic starts to burn.

Add in carrot and mountain celery. Cook for about 30 seconds to one minute, still using very high heat at this point. Trying to get some wok hei if possible.

Add in prepped seafood and give it a quick stir-fry. Add the seasonings towards the end, about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of rice cooking wine. Give it a quick mix again so all the ingredients are coated with the seasoning.

Plate, sprinkle some black pepper then serve.

This Taiwanese teppanyaki dish, my inspiration, was from a friendly priced place, not the high-end fancy kind. Instead of letting the ingredients shine with very little seasoning, these side dishes are often packed with sauces like black pepper sauce, sacha sauce, or heavy dose of aromatics. Some also use Chinese basil in such stir-fry. 

A little bit of sugar can be added too, but I like the scent from mountain celery, and the seafood used here were pretty fresh, the whole dish got a natural sweet taste from all these ingredients combined already.

It's always fun trying to recreate restaurant dishes at home. Plus we can't really go out these days due to the virus outbreak, perhaps it's time to pick up the kitchenware and cook your own food, bringing the restaurant meal alive at home, right? Only if we can be that good, but until then, practice makes perfect.


Other stir-fry recipes:

• Miso beef stir-fry 味噌炒牛肉
• Taiwanese sausage and firm tofu stir-fry
• Pickled tea oil chilies and chicken stir-fry 茶油剝皮辣椒炒雞丁
• Sweet fermented flour paste ground pork stir-fry 甜麵醬炒豬絞肉
• Okra pork stir-fry 秋葵炒豬肉片
• Thai style mint and basil chicken stir-fry