Chinese celery and peanut salad is a classic homestyle dish that is served as an appetizer, often paired with beer. The peanuts always start out raw. They get simmered with plenty of aromatics and spices. Cinnamon, star anise and Sichuan peppercorns are used to create a warm flavor profile, with ginger and garlic to add plenty of aroma. If you’re used to crispy peanuts, this dish might sound strange since you’ll be braising the peanuts in liquid. But if you keep an open mind and give this a try, you’ll be delighted to find that the boiled peanuts have a crunchy yet tender texture and are bursting with flavor.
Celery and peanut salad ingredients
Cooking with raw peanuts
In China, we almost always cook with raw skin-on peanuts and it’s quite difficult to find the processed ones. That’s why many traditional recipes such as this peanut salad are usually made from raw peanuts with skin on. For this recipe, I’ve tried cooking both skin-on and skinless peanuts, but I found that the skin-on peanuts absorb more flavor and yield a better result. Peanut skins also have a ton of health benefits as well. They contain potent antioxidants, almost double the content of the peanuts themselves. And recent research studies suggest that boiled peanuts have two- and four-fold increases in certain nutrients.
Other ingredients
You will need a few spices and aromatics for braising the peanuts, to infuse them with a very rich and savory flavor. If you have a tea infuser, I highly recommend putting the Sichuan peppercorns and star anise in it, so it will be easy to fish them out later. Once the peanuts are cooked, you only need a touch of seasoning to bring everything together. If you do not wish to make the peanuts into a salad, you can even serve them in the braising liquid as a snack or appetizer.
Cooking process
Cooking the Chinese celery and peanut salad is super easy. All you need to do is:
Afterthought
Chinese celery and peanut salad is a humble and simple dish. I really like the fact that you can prepare it ahead of time and serve it over the next couple of days. It makes a great appetizer or a snack, and it’s delicious and very nutritious as well.
Make it a complete meal with
Easy Salt Baked ChickenBok Choy SoupInstant Pot Breakfast CongeeReal Deal Sesame NoodlesLu Rou Fan (Taiwanses Pork Rice Bowl)
