Kasher's Kitchen: Cashew Chicken

Cashew Chicken

Cashew chicken (Chinese: 腰果雞丁) is a simple Chinese-American dish that combines chicken (usually stir-fried but occasionally deep-fried, depending on the variation), with cashews and either a light brown garlic sauce or a thick sauce made from chicken stock, soy sauce and oyster sauce. The traditional version of cashew chicken is stir-fried in a wok. Tender chunks of chicken are combined with crispy roasted cashews, vegetables and are tossed in a light sauce made from garlic, soy sauce and hoisin sauce, thinned with water. (Source: Wikipedia:Cashew_chicken)

My sister-in-law gave a us two packs of fried cashews, and was thinking how to consume them. Cashew is my son favorite but two packs is too much for him so I decided to cooked “Cashew Chicken” my favorite chicken dish. I love the sweet and salty sauce of this dish combine with soft chicken pieces and crunchy cashew, it’s really irresistible. I have been using this recipe since day one I learn to cook this chicken dish, I copied it in one of the cookbook I borrowed from library but I forgot to take note the author’s name and the title of the book. Overtime, I made slight modifications on the amount of ingredients omit some and added new one based on our preference (the original recipe do not have hoi sin sauce and sesame oil). You can also adjust the amount of ingredients base on your taste bud since this is a savory dish.

Cashew Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

For cooking the chicken:

150 grams roasted, cashews

500 grams boneless, skinless chicken breasts or legs, cut into cubes

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

6 medium garlic cloves, minced

3 scallions or Chinese leeks, cut into 2 cm long

3 cm ginger, slices thinly

¼ cup cooking oil

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce,

2 tablespoon rice wine (or Chinese cooking wine)

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoon brown/white sugar

1/2 teaspoon Asian sesame oil (optional)

For chicken marinade

2 tablespoons rice wine (or Chinese cooking wine)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoon dark soy sauce

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground pepper

Instructions:

Marinate the chicken with the marinating ingredients for at least 30 minutes or longer.

In a small bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients except the sesame oil, if using, and set aside.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over high heat until very hot. Add the chicken to the skillet and stir-fry (stir as you cook) until lightly browned but not cooked through, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Leave about 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet, then saute garlic and ginger till fragrant, then add-in the scallion or leeks followed by the sauce mixture.