Sichuan Celery Salad

by Mike Hsu

Supercharged celery sticks that will open up any appetite even on a hot and muggy summer day.

Sichuan Celery Salad

  • Servings: 4 servings

This Sichuan Celery Salad is served cold, making it a perfect appetizer or side dish. Even though a lot of Sichuan food is numbingly spicy, there are a handful of dishes that help combat the spiciness. Introducing the Sichuan Celery Salad. The salad is not referring to a garden salad or a caesar salad but more like a potato salad or pasta salad. It’s meant to be served cold (not at room temperature) and as an appetizer or a side dish.

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch of celery
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1-2 thai chili peppers

Directions

  • Separate the celery into individual stalks, discard the leafy portions or save them for garnishing another dish.
  • Boil a pot of water and blanch the celery for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. The celery should turn bright green.
  • Remove and immediately put the celery into an cold ice bath to stop the cooking process. The celery should have a very beautiful translucent green color, almost emerald like. In fact, another name for this dish is “emerald salad”. After the celery has chilled, allow it to drain.
  • Cut the celery into sticks of about 2” long and ½” wide. Toss them into a mixing bowl.
  • Prepare the dressing. First, mince the garlic into small pieces. Then thinly slice the chili peppers. Depending on your heat tolerance, you can remove the seeds to reduce the heat.
  • Add all the remaining ingredients to the mixing bowl including the salt, sugar, sesame oil, and lime juice. Toss the celery in the dressing and put into refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour for the celery to be chilled and flavors to impart.
  • When the celery is nice and cold, remove from refrigerator, plate it and serve immediately while cold. The celery should be tender but crunchy and full of garlic flavor and a nice hint of sesame oil aroma with a slight undertone of sourness from the lime juice and a tiny bit of heat from the chili peppers and the sugar to balance the salt. This dish is so simple yet it satisfies the palate with flavor, texture, and temperature. Perfect for the hot summer!