Cashew Chicken

I'm pretty new to the world of "Asian Cooking". The prep work is what's so labor intensive! I found this recipe from Blog Chef, but I made a couple of changes. I love snow peas, and I thought that they would add a lot of color. I also added garlic because I thought that it would give a nice flavor enhancement. I also think there was a typo in Blog Chef's recipe when he wrote down to put 4 Tablespoons of cornstarch into the sauce. Hmmm, I think I would've had concrete. So, I went with 4 teaspoons and the sauce thickened beautifully. The link for Blog Chef's recipe does provide step-by-step photos, for those of you who are visual (like me).

I have to admit, that dipping chicken into a flour mixture two times got to be a messy disaster that had me grumbling to myself "never again"! I ended up dipping the chicken only once, and that worked out just fine. Deep frying food isn't something I do often. In this case, it took three batches to cook the chicken to a golden brown-- and it was also messy and time-consuming. Yes, the chicken tasted good, but I think that the star of this recipe is the sauce. It's delicious! So, next time, I'll stir-fry the chicken to cut fat grams and to spare me the hard work and mess.

Still, this recipe was unanimously given four out of five stars by eveyrone. Just so you know-- five stars isn't given out very easily. I cook for a tough audience, but they are worth the effort.





Cashew Chicken
(Click here for printable recipe)

Ingredients: 2lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1” chunks) 1 large green pepper (sliced) 1 large onion (sliced) 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 cups snow peas (trimmed of string on the top edge) 1 can sliced water chestnuts (optional) 2 cups flour 5 teaspoons cornstarch (divided) 2 teaspoons baking soda 3 eggs (beaten) oil (for frying) Sauce- 2 cups chicken broth 2 tablespoons oyster sauce 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon pepper Garnish: 2 cups cashews 1/3 cup green onions (chopped) Option 1 is the way that I cooked the chicken. It's delicious but a messy and labor intensive). If you don't want go through that amount of work-- and you prefer not to deep fry your foods, then see my Option 2 way to cook the chicken). 1 Step 1: To make the sauce- in a bowl mix chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, and 4 teaspoons of cornstarch. Set aside. 2 Step 2: In a bowl mix flour, baking soda and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. In another bowl beat the eggs. Dip chicken pieces first then the flour mixture, then in the egg mixture and then again in the flour mixture. 3 Step 3: Fry in oil in a wok or in a deep fryer at 350 degrees in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. (Option 2 way to cook the chicken) 1 Step 3: (alternate) Stir fry the chicken in a wok with a little hot oil until no longer pink (3-5 minutes) 2 Step 4: Heat a tiny bit of oil in the wok and stir fry green pepper and onions, garlic and (optional) water chestnuts for 2-3 minutes. Remove from wok and set aside. 3 Step 5: Stir-Fry the snow peas for 2-3 minutes, retaining bright green color and do not overcook! 4 Step 5: Pour sauce into wok and cook over medium heat stirring until well blended and sauce thickens. In a bowl pour sauce over chicken pieces, add green peppers and onions. 5 Step 6: Mix well and garnish with cashews and green onions. Serve with white rice.

Servings: 6

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes (including rice and deep frying the chicken)

Ready in: 1 hour and 15 minutes (Click here for printable recipe)