Stir Fried Celery with Prawns and Straw Mushrooms

I am quite fond of celeries. This vegetable is highly fibrous and good for health. When made into celery juice, it does reduce the bad cholesterol of some patients. But I don’t really like celery juice because it tastes rather funny. Saltish, I would say. Most of the time, I would just stir fry the celery with carrots, mushrooms and prawns.

I really did not intend to cook the straw mushrooms on this occasion. That morning, i bought a can of straw mushrooms only to drop it whilst driving and thus causing a dent on the can. Since the can is dented, I cannot be keeping the can of straw mushrooms longer for fear of possible leaching of iron (I am still struggling to understand this bit). Anyway, the dish turned out well and we truly had an enjoyable meal. The crunchiness of the celery and carrots were balanced by the smoothness of the mushrooms. The prawns lended its sweetness to the dish. Voila!

This is my recipe for Stir Fried Celery with Prawns and Straw Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 1 stalk celery (cut to 4 cm lengths)
• 1 medium sized carrot (sliced)
• Half can of straw mushrooms (about 10 pieces - you can use more, it doesn’t really matter)
• 8 pieces of medium sized prawns (deveined, leaving shell intact)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• Corn starch (mix 1 tablespoon corn flour with 100 ml water)
• 50 ml warm water
  
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil (palm oil)

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of MSG (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of chinese cooking wine

Method

Heat oil in wok and saute garlic till beginning to brown. Add prawns and stir for 15 seconds. Remove prawns and set aside.

Add celery, carrots and straw mushrooms into the wok and continue stir frying for 1 minute. Add seasoning and water and bring to boil. Return prawns into the rest of the ingredients.

Cook for another 2 minutes and add corn starch to thicken gravy (if necessary).

Serve hot with white rice.

Technorati Tags: Recipe, Food, Malaysia, Chinese, Celery, Prawns