11/11/10

Cashew Chicken


My brother Kyle has had an interest in cooking longer than I have! When we were younger he watched Food Network and tried their recipes. (He was such a fan of Emeril Lagasse that in one of his missionary packages, my mom sent him an Emeril apron that said "BAM!" on the front!) My brother is a great cook, so when he shares a recipe with me I know it's going to be good. My family raved about this meal when Kyle made it for them, so I was excited when he called me with the recipe!

This was delicious and came together in a snap! Since everything cooks very quickly, I made sure to have all the ingredients prepped and ready before cooking began. Savory and slightly spicy, with a nice crunch from the cashews, this asian style chicken is a restaurant-worthy dish. Thanks Kyle!

Cashew Chicken

4 chicken breast halves, diced
3 tbsp soy sauce, divided
1 tbsp cooking sherry
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp white vinegar
¼ cup oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3 green onions, sliced diagonally
2 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tsp of jarred minced garlic)
¼-½ cup cashews, unsalted
toasted sesame seeds
hot cooked rice


In a medium bowl, combine 1 tablespoon soy sauce with the cooking sherry. Cut chicken into bite-sized cubes, about 1/2 inch, and place chicken pieces in soy sauce/sherry mixture. Let it sit while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a small bowl, whisk remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, corn starch, sugar, and vinegar until well combined. Set aside. Slice the green onions, and measure out the red pepper flakes and minced garlic.



Heat oil in a wok over high heat. (Make sure it is very very hot. I didn't have mine hot enough and my chicken didn't turn out brown and crispy on the outside like it should have. Hot hot hot!) Add red pepper flakes and stir for 10 seconds. Add chicken all at once - it will sizzle and spatter quite a bit in the hot oil - stir quickly to brown all sides of chicken. Cook for 2 minutes until chicken is browned on all sides. Remove chicken from wok. Add sliced green onions and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are slightly cooked (about 1 minute). Return chicken to wok. Slowly pour in reserved corn starch sauce, stir to coat. Continue cooking on high, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and sauce thickens. Remove from heat, stir in cashews. Serve over hot cooked rice with toasted sesame seeds on top.

Post-edit: This is what it is SUPPOSED to look like, when you cook at the right temperature.

7 comments:

  1. Awesome!!! Looks so good. Michelle was just saying yesterday how we need to make it again. Would you do anything different??

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  2. Well, when I first put the chicken in I had the heat just above medium, and I really should've had it on high. I don't know what I was thinking. I think the chicken would've gotten more browned on the outside if I had it at the correct heat the entire time. It was great though! I have made things that are kind of similar to this but they have brown sugar in the sauce so it has kind of a sweet and spicy taste, maybe I would do that. But actually that might taste weird with the cashews. I really like it the way it is! :)

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  3. You know what else I would do... I might coat the chicken pieces in corn starch or flour (or a mix of the two) before frying so they get a sort of fried crust on the outside... I don't know if that would work but it sounds yummy!

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  4. I loved this dinner and think Kyle and Angie should be my personal chefs! I just love it when they fill my house with yummy smells and happy sounds. How did I get so blessed?

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  5. Oh I am so excited to try this! I love your blog. Thank you for sharing your recipes!

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  6. So I just went through your entire website and I must have bookmarked 75% of your recipes!! Thank you, I can't wait to try these!!

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  7. Thank you for the recipe, i'm going to have to give it a try this weekend!

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