Cashew Nut Chicken | food comas

Cashew Nut Chicken is a Thai stir-fry dish with Chinese origins, but tweaked to pack more heat. The preparation felt like most Chinese stir-fry recipes my Dad taught me, especially when we marinated the chicken with Chinese cooking wine, oyster sauce and then mixed with flour.

The unique flavor for this Thai dish came from the dried chilies which are fried in oil, removed then using the same oil, the cashews are fried. It made this dish absolutely delicious!  And like most Thai dishes I learned during my cooking class in Phuket, the actual cooking time was super quick.

Cashew Nut Chicken (recipe courtesy of Kata Thai Cooking Class)

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 T vegetable oil
• 2-3 dried chilies
• 1 T cashew nuts
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 T chili paste (or can use oyster sauce for a less sweet version)
• 1 T fish sauce
• 2-3 T water
• 1/2-1 tsp sugar
• 75-100g chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 tsp Chinese cooking wine
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1-2 tsp flour
• 1/2 C sliced vegetables (white onion, green onion, carrots)

Directions:

Marinate the chicken with 1 tsp each of Chinese cooking wine and oyster sauce. Let rest for 5 minutes. Mix the marinated chicken thoroughly with flour before frying.

In a large wok, heat the oil and add the dried chilies. Fry until they change to a brown color and then remove. Next, fry the cashew nuts until light brown and remove.

Add the chicken to the wok and fry for a couple minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until light brown, then stir in the chili paste, fish sauce, and water.

Add sugar to taste and then put in the vegetables. Cook until the vegetables are soft, and then add back the cashew nuts and chilies. Garnish with red chilies, spring onions and serve with jasmine rice.