Tofu Gan and Warm Celery Salad

One Saturday afternoon in August I was watching the Cooking Channel and Easy Chinese with Ching-He Huang came on. She was visiting Flushing and cooking this recipe for Sichuan Tofu Gan and Warm Celery Salad in a grocery store. It looked so delicious and easy. I love spiced/smoked firm tofu (which we had previously made with garlic scapes and other vegetables) and I knew I had to try this salad. It may have taken five months to get around to it, but I finally made it this week.

Ingredients:

- 2 tbsp chili oil ($0.30)

- 1 tbsp chili bean paste ($0.10)

- 1 tbsp rice vinegar ($0.10)

- 1 tbsp vegetable oil ($0.05)

- 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns (free from MIL)

- 2 garlic cloves ($0.05)

- 1 bunch of celery (including leaves) ($0.87)

- 8 oz package of firm tofu gan ($1.99)

- 1 tsp light soy sauce ($0.05)

- salt and pepper ($0.05)

- 1 tsp lemon juice ($0.05)

- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves ($0.40)

The prices are estimates since we've had some of this stuff for awhile, but the cost of the recipe should work out to about $4. Not too bad for a delicious dish. The recipe also included peanuts, but I left those out and think it worked wonderfully without it.

Process:

1. Prep work. Chop celery (1/4 inch thick, diagonally), tofu (thin slices), garlic (rough chop), and cilantro (rough chop). Remove any stray sticks from Sichuan peppercorns. Whisk together chili oil, chili bean paste and rice vinegar.

2. Heat vegetable oil over high heat. Toss garlic and Sichuan peppercorns (whole).

3. Add celery and stir fry until softened.

4. Add tofu and toss until heated through.

5. Pour in chili oil sauce and toss well.

6. Stir in soy sauce, salt, pepper, lemon juice to taste.

7. Sprinkle in cilantro, stir, remove from heat and serve.

Review:

We really enjoyed this dish. It took five months after seeing it on TV to make it, but I definitely don't want to wait another five months. So far it has been one of my favorite homecooked dishes from January.

The flavors of all of the ingredients worked really well together, and the celery did a great job absorbing all of the flavors. I also liked how the chili oil sauce worked out. I'm used to just throwing the chili bean paste straight into the hot oil instead of adding it in a mix later on, but this alternative method was great. This dish was just packed with spice and flavor. Next time we might use a little less of the Sichuan peppercorns to allow the other flavors to shine more, but they really do make such a difference in any dish you add them in. We were really happy with this.