Sichuan dry-fried beef with Chinese celery

Slice the beef into quarter-inch slabs, stack and cut into quarter-inch strips.

Marinate with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp five spice powder, 1 tsp sugar, 1/3 tsp baking powder (soda), 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp grated ginger and 1 grated clove of garlic. Mix well and set aside.

Strip the leaves from Chinese celery, discard the root and cut the stalks into 2.5 inch pieces.

Cut dried red chilies open lengthwise into strips with scissors and shake out the seeds in a sieve. Prepare ginger strips, thinly sliced garlic and 2 scallions cut into stalks.

Heat the wok on high until smoking, add a generous amount of oil and swirl.

Spread out the beef and pan-fry 20 to 30 seconds, flip roughly and fry the other side.

Stir the beef over medium-high heat about 5 minutes, until cooked through and the surface is slightly charred.

Turn the heat to low, push the beef aside, add 1 tbsp Sichuan doubanjiang and stir until the oil turns bright red.

Add the ginger strips, garlic, chilies and celery and stir a couple of minutes, covering the celery with the beef to let it cook.

Splash Chinese cooking wine down the side of the wok to deglaze the bottom.

Add the scallions, 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds and 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder, and stir thoroughly.