Chinese Celery (Qin Cai)
茎が細くて香りが強烈！お肉と炒めるための「チャイニーズセロリ」
Description
Unlike the thick Western celery seen in JP supermarkets, an Eastern celery with thin stems like Mitsuba and many leaves. Less watery than Western celery, featuring an 'intensely dense celery aroma' and 'extremely strong crunch'. Prized in Chinese cooking not for salads, but as a 'veg to stir-fry with meat'.
Classification: Everyone, Ingredient, Vegetable, Qin Cai, Celery, Stir-fry, Dumpling Filling, Liangban, Crunchy
Shops selling Chinese Celery (Qin Cai)
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The How to use section below is a general reference, not instructions from the listed shops.
How to use
Ingredients
- Chinese Celery(Fresh)
Instructions
- [Typical Uses]
- [Qin Cai Chao Rou Si (Celery & Pork Stir-fry)]: Wok-fry inch-cut celery on high with julienned pork in soy sauce (classic Chinese diner menu).
- Mince and mix with beef for boiled dumpling fillings (Celery Beef Dumplings).
- Blanch and toss with peanuts (Liangban Qin Cai).
Learn more Substitutes, pairings, tips
Key spices
Extremely strong herbal aroma like condensed Western celery、and a strong bite unbroken by cooking
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
Substitute by thinly diagonal-cutting regular JP celery (more watery, weaker aroma)
Pairing
Julienned Pork / Minced Beef (Dumplings) / Dou Fu Gan (Pressed Tofu)
Trivia
Don't discard the leaves; fry them with stems or put in soup to enjoy the aroma. Frying with Xun Gan (smoked tofu) creates a miraculous synergy between smoke and celery aromas.
Eating tips & etiquette
When Chinese recipe books say 'Qin Cai', they basically mean this thin Eastern celery. Thick Western celery (Xi Qin) is spreading in China recently, but for traditional dumplings or stir-fries, the highly aromatic Eastern celery suits overwhelmingly better.
Allergen
None