Shredded Meat Celery and Dried Tofu Stir Fry – The name is a mouthful but it’s a popular dish in Chinese cuisine! Marinated shredded beef or pork, stir fried with dry pressed tofu (aka dougan) along with julienned celery.

What is Stir Fry Shredded Meat Celery and Dried Tofu (Dougan)?

This dish’s Chinese name (芹菜香乾肉絲) is actually directly translated to ‘Celery Pressed Tofu Shredded Meat’.

In restaurants this dish is usually made with pork, but we actually prefer to cook it with shredded beef! It’s up to you which one you want to use.

Allright – the name sounds crazy and like a bunch of words but it is a very common dish in Chinese cuisine and it’s directly translated.

Basically it is Shredded beef or pork, stir fried with dry pressed tofu shreds along with julienned celery!

Shredding meat Chinese style

When you hear shredded meat, you probably think of pulled meat like shredded pork for example. However, in a lot of Chinese dishes, shredded meat is when you slice or julienne the meat in to thin strips.

This method really helps the dish become flavorful as there’s more area of the meat to touch the marinade/sauce/seasoning.

You could just take a good sharp knife and slice it in to thin strips, however, if you find that challenging, you can also try freezing the beef or pork first. When you remove from freezer, and allow it to defrost enough to cut through, the slightly frozen meat will be easier to slice.

What is Dougan?

Dougan aka 豆乾 directly translate to ‘bean dried’ and it is a type of firm tofu. It’s commonly used in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine.

It is made from soybeans and flavored with salt, soy sauce, and many other spices commonly cinnamon, star anise, licorice and more.

Though Dougan is a type of firm tofu, I don’t really advice substituting dougan with tofu or vice versa. This is because the texture and the flavor is quite different. Not saying it will be bad, but it really won’t be the same.

Chinese Celery

Chinese celery is also known as Leaf celery. This type of celery originates from East Asia and popular in stir fries in Chinese cuisine.

Chinese celery is different than regular celery in that the stems are thinner and softer, and so in stir fries it takes less that to cook in order to soften.

Usually Chinese celery is used for this recipe, however, if you can’t find it, or have regular celery on hand, you can julienne the regular celery thinner, and it will cook faster.

By the way! If you are interested in learning more about ALL the Chinese veggies – check out my post on Different types of Chinese vegetables!

How to cook Stir Fry Shredded Meat Celery and Dried Tofu (Dougan)

First, gather your ingredients:

• 1/2 lb pork or beef, cut in to thin strips
• Marinade:
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 cup of dougan, cut in to 2 inch thin strips
• 1 cup of Chinese celery, cut in to 2 inch thin strips*
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• Salt, as desired

Slice the pork or beef in to thin strips. In a large bowl or ziplock bag, add pork or beef, with marinade ingredients – soy sauce, cornstarch, and sesame oil and combine well.

Let this marinade for the very least 15 minutes, or up to overnight, just be sure to put in the refrigerator if you are planning to marinade longer than 30 minutes.

While you wait for it to marinade, you can slice the celery and the dougan in to thin strips also.

In a wok or large cooking pan, heat up cooking oil. Add the meat, and stir fry until it just browned, and then remove from heat and set aside.

Add a little bit more oil to the cooking pan if the pan is dry, and then add dougan. Stir fry for about a minute or so and then add celery.

Stir fry celery for about 2-minutes or until it begins to soften (it will take longer if it is not chinese celery, or if it’s cut thicker).

Add the meat back to the pan and stir fry everything together to combine well. Add salt to taste.

Remove from heat and enjoy!

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