Recipe for Cashew Chicken

EDITOR'S NOTE:  PLEASE SEE CHANGES TO THIS RECIPE!!!  I originally wrote four TABLESPOONS of corn starch was necessary for the sauce, but it was a typo - it's four TEASPOONS!! 

On Friday I was on a lunch date with Alex and some friends when Dave called me on my cellphone and proceeded to make dirty sex noises at me.  He was eating the leftovers I'd packed for his lunch. 

"This cashew chicken is SO F***ING GOOD!" he moaned.  "I mean, it's REALLY REALLY good."

This is that recipe.

It's time consuming, complicated and expensive, but if you like cashew chicken, I promise it's worth all the effort.  I've modified the recipe from its original form in the December 2008 issue of Cook's Country.  I found a few issues with the readability of their recipe (why do they assume that non-professional chefs: (ie: anyone without their own personal prep cook) measure out the ingredients BEFOREHAND!? The original recipe writer made the mistake of saying things like, "use the remaining Mirin" and I actually had to measure out the full amount and then dump out the amount I had already used.  My interpretation uses more accurate measurements for your convenience). 

Again, this recipe has a LOT of ingredients and if you're the kind of cook who has a hard time following recipe instructions, pay extra close attention, but otherwise, it's basically a stir-fry.  And it's so delicious that I should be charging you a fee to open this blog post.

You'll need:

4-5 chicken breasts

8-12 ounces of fresh snow peas

2 cups cashews (salted or not, either way is fine)

1 8-ounce can of water chestnuts (sliced or whole, depending on how much work you want to do)

Red pepper flakes

Olive oil

Ground ginger

4-5 cloves of garlic

For the marinade:

3 Tablespoons Mirin

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Corn Starch

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

For the sauce:

1 cup Low-Sodium Chicken Broth

3 Tablespoons Worchestershire Sauce

7 Tablespoons of Mirin

3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

4 TEASPOONS Corn Starch

You'll also probably want to make some white rice to go with this.  We like Basmati, but whatever you normally make is fine.  (My recipe is 2 cups EXTREMELY WELL-RINSED white Basmati, a tablespoon of butter and 2 cups chicken broth, but we like it pretty dry).

I'm going to write out the recipe in the way I SHOULD make it, but always forget to.  So the first thing I should do is to start ahead of time by chopping up my chicken so I can marinate it. I like to chop it into just-about-bite-sized pieces. 

The marinade is pretty simple, but then again, I'm assuming you're smarter than I am and that you already know what Mirin is.  I didn't!  I had to use the powers of iPhone google from the Asian foods aisle of my local wal-mart before I could even figure out if Mirin was a liquid or a solid.  It's a "sweet cooking rice wine" though.  Now I know! In a big bowl, measure out the following:

3 Tablespoons Mirin

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Corn Starch

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

And whisk it together before adding the cubed chicken. Cover with saran wrap and marinate for at least 30 minutes, but no more than two hours.  Apparently this process is called "velveting" and will help make your chicken extra tender and delicious.

While the chicken is marinating, it's time to do the rest of your prep. Start by trimming the ends off your snow peas and then cutting them in half at an angle.Then rinse your water chestnuts. And slice 'em if you didn't buy them already sliced.  The original recipe included a blurb about how pre-sliced water chestnuts can be water-logged or something, but I don't know enough about them to know if that's true.  I just sliced them so I could play with my new knife.Then get out your cashews.  The original recipe called for one cup, which is not nearly enough, so I just use the whole can, which I think is either 12 or 16 ounces.  No one ever had a plate of cashew chicken and thought, "Gee there are just TOO MANY CASHEWS in here."Fred Meyer only had salted cashews, which would make the recipe too salty, so I dumped them out onto a clean dishtowel and rubbed them around for a while to remove as much salt as I could.  It worked better than I expected.Then I pan-roasted them in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  The original recipe called for heating up the oven and roasting them at 400 degrees for five minutes, but last time I did that I forgot about them and burned them.  And who wants to heat up the whole over for something that needs only five minutes in there?!The pan-roasting works just as well.Next, I prep the sauce.  It calls for a cup of low-sodium chicken broth, which I just make myself with hot water and a tiny dollop of chicken base.  It's not technically low sodium, but it works.Now you have to get out the ingredients for the sauce and make sure you measure them carefully.  (This is the hardest part of the recipe! I promise!)  Since this is the last time you'll need these ingredients, I find it easier to stay on track if I put each bottle away after I use it.

Whisk together:

1 cup Low-Sodium Chicken Broth

3 Tablespoons Worchestershire Sauce

7 Tablespoons of Mirin

3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

4 Teaspoons Corn Starch

Until it looks greasy and kind of like an oil spill.

Now would be a good time to peel 4-5 garlic cloves.  Of course, I always forget until much later, which explains why I don't have a photo of this step here. 

Next it's time to get the chicken out of the fridge and get rolling.  Heat up a couple teaspoons of olive oil in your largest nonstick skillet.  Mine is about 12 inches I think and this recipe is as much food as I can fit into it at once. 

Using a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken from the marinade bowl to your skillet, split the chicken into two batches and brown it half at a time in the heated oil. 

You don't want to cook the chicken all the way through in this step, instead you just want to brown the exterior.Transfer the chicken to a plate.And cover it with foil while you brown the next batch.Once all your chicken is browned it will finish cooking under the tin foil tent while you finish the rest of the stir fry.  Wipe out your pan and heat up a fresh teaspoon of olive oil before adding your snow peas.

I love the way the heat brightens the green of the snow peas; it's also the way you can tell they're cooked enough.When they're mostly bright green, get out your ground ginger.  The original recipe called for fresh, but that's a pain in the butt, so i just shook in some of this stuff and called it good.  Like so:The original recipe also called for 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.But I didn't measure it.  I just sprinkled them in until it felt like enough.Stir that together for a minute or so until it's fragrant and then mince in your garlic.  I think four cloves is plenty, but add more if you like more.Cook the garlic for another minute or so and then add your sliced water chestnuts.Once those are well-incorporated and warm, you can add your sauce.  Just be sure to give it a quick whisk again because the corn starch likes to chillax at the bottom of the bowl.Reduce your heat a tiny bit here and stir it for a few minutes.The sauce begins to change color when it boils and that's how you know it's done.  It turns clear and gets darker.Now you can add your chicken!This is the part where I usually start spilling all over the stove.Once the chicken is hot, you can turn off your heat and add the cashews.  They don't need to cook and you don't want them to get soggy, so wait until right before you serve this to incorporate them.And that's it!Serve over white rice and enjoy!

Mandajuice's Cashew Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

4-5 chicken breasts

8-12 ounces of fresh snow peas

1-2 cups whole cashews (salted or not, either way is fine)

1 8-ounce can of water chestnuts (sliced or whole, depending on how much work you want to do)

Red pepper flakes

Olive oil

Ground ginger

4-5 cloves of garlic

For the marinade:

3 Tablespoons Mirin

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Corn Starch

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

For the sauce:

1 cup Low-Sodium Chicken Broth

3 Tablespoons Worchestershire Sauce

7 Tablespoons of Mirin

3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

4 TEASPOONS Corn Starch

Whisk together the marinade ingredients (3 Tablespoons Mirin, 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce, 2 Tablespoons Corn Starch, 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil), pour over cubed chicken and stir to coat it well.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to two hours. 

Next prepare all your other ingredients: wash and slice your snow peas and water chestnuts, peel 4-5 cloves of garlic, remove salt from cashews with a clean dishtowel (if salted) and cook them over med-high heat in a dry nonstick skillet for under five minutes until golden brown.  Set aside.

Combine sauce ingredients (1 cup Low-Sodium Chicken Broth, 3 Tablespoons Worchestershire Sauce, 7 Tablespoons of Mirin, 3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce, 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil, 4 Teaspoons Corn Starch), whisk and set aside.

Wipe out your skillet and heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil over high heat.  Using a slotted spoon to drain the marinade, transfer half the chicken to your hot skillet and brown it on all sides, being careful not to cook it all the way through.  Transfer browned chicken to a platter and cover with tinfoil.  Wipe out your skillet and repeat this step with remaining chicken.  Tent and set aside.

Heat one teaspoon of olive oil in your skillet.  Add snow peas and cook until bright green, less than two minutes.  Add a few shakes of ground ginger and about 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.  Cook until fragrant.  Add 4-5 cloves of minced garlic and cook for another one to two minutes. 

Whisk the sauce again before adding it to the pan.  Reduce heat to medium high and stir frequently.  When the sauce begins to boil, add chicken and stir until heated through.  Remove from heat and stir in the cashews.

Serve over white rice and enjoy!

Comments

[Sadie]

Yum! I have been waiting for you to post this. I am definitely going to make this, and maybe add a few more vegetables (maybe some broccoli, sliced carrots or mushrooms). Looks delish!

[Morgan S.]

Ohhhhhhh, that looks so extremely yummy. But I have a problem! Though cashews were my ALL TIME, MOST FAVORITE nut, I inexplicably became highly allergic to them about 3 years ago. (sobs....) Do you think this recipe would be good using almonds? I know some Chinese food restaurants have almond chicken items on their menu. Or maybe peanuts?

[Sheryl]

It cracks me up every time you post a recipe when I see those gloved hands of yours. :D This looks yummy, I will definitely make it.

[LizP]

Holy cow that looks good and I don't even like cashews or water chestnuts. This was a better tutorial than that commercial for the Nintendo DS thing. Who needs to say "continue", just hit Page Down!

[laura]

looks sooo good i'm going to order some chinese right now since i dont have half those items, but man can't wait to make that.

[bethany actually]

If you don't mind mincing fresh garlic, you can use fresh ginger! Just keep it in a plastic freezer bag in the freezer. It keeps forever that way. When you want to use it, just use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the outer skin on the part you want to use, then use a grater to grate the desired amount! It works really well for stir-fries especially, and fresh ginger tastes AMAZING compared to the dry powdered stuff.

[Janssen]

That introduction cracked me up - what could be a better way to sell a recipe?

[Rhi]

We're going to try it. But, just for the record, I find cashew to be a really, really weird word.

[Alison]

I love you.

[Gry]

Oh, I might just try this.. If I can find all the ingredients in our stores! In any case it looks DELISH!

[Laura]

Thank you! I have tried every recipe you have posted and my family has loved every one of them!

[Kim]

Hi, just wondering if you plan to continue posting over at the Naked ledger. I found your personal blog through the Naked Ledger and enjoy your personal as well as financial posts.

[Melting Mama]

Nomz. Fed Ex Please?

[Patti]

We made a variation of this on Monday night and it was amazing. We had to substitute Almonds for the cashews as my baby has a cashew allergy, but even so - MMMMMMMMMmmm!

Thanks for the recipe!

[Morgan S.]

I made this tonight and it was AWESOME. I used almonds instead and brown rice. I am beyond thrilled to add this to my meal rotation. I have been wishing I could cook this type of dish forever, but shied away thinking it would be too complicated and need too many special ingredients. LOVE IT.

[Kate]

Holy Cow! A recipe in which Scott can eat every single ingredient? No way!!!!!

I am SO making this!!!

[The Balebusta]

Manda! This looks fab!!! I have been on a baking kick lately but this is something that would definitely please the fiance! Keep the delicious recipes coming! (From another conservative blogger, stay at homer, writer, photography & cooking lover)

[margaret]

First off let me say that your presentation of this recipe is fantastic and very enticing. Great pictures, and easy to follow. It is not my habit to slam people on their blogs, but I made it last week, and it was horrendous. I thought for sure I messed up the recipe, but later discovered that was not the case. Before I could even get it to the table, it had congealed into a pot full of glue-like substance, thicker that honey. After checking the recipe to see where I went a foul, I added another 2 cups of liquid to the pot to make it somewhat palatable. It tasted like paste. After dinner (and bribing a 2, 4 and 6 year old to eat it for chocolates), I checked some sources for appropriate proportions of cornstarch. The consensus was that each cup of hot liquid should be thickened with only one teaspoon of cornstarch. http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com/cooking_guide/thickening-cornstarch.php This recipe calls for 4 Tablespoons of cornstarch for the sauce, and only about 2.5 cups of liquid. That is about 5 times more corn starch than is needed. I don't really know how you can make this and have it taste like anything but cornstarch. Are you certain of this recipe? Anybody else tried it?

[morgan s.]

I just made it again, using the correct amount of cornstarch. Oh DANG is it yummy. My husband is out of town so I get all the leftovers, too!

[Betsy]

I made this last night, using only 2 large-ish chicken breasts and only about 8 oz of cashews. Wouldn't you know it, my husband's only complaint was "Too many cashews". So, I guess you can have too many cashews in Cashew Chicken. :)

Overall I liked the dish, and didn't think it was too complicated or time consuming. I agree with the commenter above who said they would add more veggies.

[chicken recipes]

YUMMY! I find your blog as a gift for me, a man who is trying to cook, I mean it is really detail and also provide vivid pictures of every single step, thank you so much, I do hope I can make it by myself one day :D
Cheers!