Heat & Knives

The Recipe

Source: Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop

2 celery stalks
about 1 pound chicken meat, preferably on the bone (about 2 chicken breasts or 3-4 thighs)
3 whole scallions
¼ cup peanut oil
6-8 dried chiles (about 1/8 ounce)
1 teaspoon whole Sichuan pepper
1 ½ tablespoons Sichuan chili bean paste
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or medium-dry sherry
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
salt
2 teaspoons sesame oil

Using a knife, remove the fibrous outer bits from the celery stalks and cut them at a steep angle into 1/2-inch slices. Sprinkle with a few pinches of salt and set them aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

Cut the chicken as evenly as possible into 1-inch chunks. Cut the scallions at a steep angle into slices to match the celery.

Season the wok, then add ¼ cup of oil and reheat until smoking hot. Add the chicken and stir-fry over a high flame for 4-5 minutes, until it has lost much of its water content. (You can achieve this by deep-frying-rather quicker but more extravagant with the oil.) Turn the heat down to medium, add the chiles and Sichaun pepper, and stir-fry until they smell wonderfully spicy. Add the chili bean paste and stir as it releases its fragrance and stains the oil a red-orange color. Splash in the Shaoxing rice wine and stir in the dark soy sauce and 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of salt to taste. Keep stirring over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is dry, toasty, and fragrant. Then add the vegetables and stir-fry for another minute or two until they are just tender, adding a little more salt to taste. Remove from the heat, stir in the sesame oil, and serve.