Cashew Chicken

Cashew Chicken just like they serve at your favorite Chinese restaurant.

I’ve mentioned before that I am lucky enough to be married to man who pretty much loves everything I make.  So sometimes it is hard for me to gauge how good something really is because he likes everything.  There have been a few rare instances where he hasn’t liked something and believe me I have never made that again.

Last week I made an old family standby dinner that I hadn’t made in quite a while.  I think my husband told me at least three times during the meal how much he liked it.  I always get at least one Yum but when I get it three times I KNOW it’s a good one.

So today’s recipe is that 3 Yum recipe!  Cashew Chicken.

This is the dish I always order when we go out for Chinese food.  I love cashew chicken.

We have one of those funny family stories that we tell and retell just about every time we go out for Chinese food and order cashew chicken.  Which is every time we go out for Chinese food.

I was pregnant with our second son Clark.  As always, we ordered cashew chicken.  My favorite part is the cashews so this particular evening I had made a little pile of cashews on my plate to save for the very end, so I could savor them.  Well, I had to get up to go to the bathroom during dinner (remember I was pregnant) and when I came back my cashews were gone.

When I saw that my cashews were gone I got a little upset, okay, a lot upset.  Remember I was pregnant!  My husband apologized and felt terrible for eating them. He thought I had put them in a pile because I didn’t want them.  To his credit this is a bit of a habit I have.  When there is something in a dish I don’t like I pick it out and pile it up on the side of the plate so I guess I can’t blame him.  But I had been so looking forward to eating those cashews! He offered to order me some more cashew chicken but I declined.

I don’t think he has ever eaten anything off my plate since without asking first!  Don’t mess with a pregnant lady!!

So here is our home version of cashew chicken.

The first step is to cut your boneless, skinless chicken breast into bite size pieces and put them in to marinade with some egg white, cornstarch, oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar.  You can leave it for up to an hour or as little as 15 minutes.  I usually go for the 15 minutes.

Next mix up the sauce.  A mixture of fresh or powdered ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, cornstarch and water.

Cook your chicken in about 5 tablespoons of oil.  Be sure your oil is hot before you add the chicken.  You do not want the chicken to brown as you will see some of mine did in the picture.  That is what happens when your heat is too high and you walk away for a few minutes.  You want the chicken to turn white and cook through.

Next add in the sauce you mixed up and stir to coat the chicken.  It will thicken right up and glaze the chicken.  Sprinkle with some red pepper flakes if you want a bit of heat.

After the chicken is completely cooked through remove from the pan and serve over rice.  I garnished it with a few chopped chives because I didn’t have green onions which is what I usually use.

You could add in some vegetables if you like but I like to serve it with Chinese style dry sauteed green beans.  I’ll be back with that recipe in a day or so!  This dish is also gluten free if you use tamari sauce instead of soy sauce!  Always a plus at our house.

See if you can get three YUM’s from your family on this one!

Cashew Chicken Recipe

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Cashew Chicken

Course Main Dish

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 egg white
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• dash of pepper
• 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 5 Tbsp oil
• dash of red chili pepper flakes
• 2 green onions minced or chives
• 1/4 tsp dry ginger or 1/2 tsp fresh ginger minced
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp water
• 1/3 C cashews

Instructions

• Mix together marinade using egg white, cornstarch, oil, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
• Mix in chicken and marinade for 15 minutes up to 60 minutes.
• In a wok, or frying pan heat 5 Tbsp oil until the oil forms bubbles around a wooden skewer or chopstick when put into the oil.
• Place chicken in the oil and cook until chicken turns white and is cooked through.
• Add in soy sauce mixture. Stir to coat chicken and mixture will thicken. Add in cashews
• Serve over rice and garnish with chopped green onions.