Thursday, March 4, 2010

Cashew Chicken

I've been in the mood for Chinese food lately, but we're still on our "pay off debt" kick so going out wasn't really an option. I ran across a Cashew Chicken recipe and that sounded tasty to me. But the recipe looked weird. Seriously, what kind of Chinese food has red wine vinegar and ketchup in it? And cooked in a slow cooker? In the words of Jed -- "That's not right!"

So I kept looking and ran across this recipe at the good ol' standby site, Simply Recipes. As always, simple and classic, a three-ingredient sauce that tastes phenomenal. I did make a few small changes because, um, yeah I can't not. We've made it twice this week, once as written and once with my own changes which I thought gave it a lovely twist.

Michael gave this the rare and glorious rating of TEN out of ten!

Cashew Chicken

Marinate for at 1-4 hours:
8 chicken thighs, cubed
1/2 c. oil (olive or coconut)
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. soy sauce
1 T. sesame oil
1 T. fresh ginger, grated

Meanwhile, brown:
2 c. cashews

And chop:
1 container mushrooms
1 lg onion
1 green pepper

About 20 minutes before dinner, heat a heavy skillet on high. With tongs, place the chicken in pan and stir fry (may take two batches.) Place in serving bowl with cashews.

Then pour the marinade in the hot pan and boil a bit to kill off any chicken cooties. Pour in bowl.

Then stir fry the onions and peppers. Stir in the mushrooms later so they don't get overcooked. Place all in bowl. Serve over rice.

Serves 4-6

Moan at the extended abdomen resulting from snorking down so much deliciousness.

7 comments:

Kim said...

I can't thank you enough! I love cashew chicken, and this pregnancy I've been craving food with sha-zam! Mexican, Chinese, anything with serious flavor. (Not sure what that says about the little personality that's growing inside of me...yikes!) Thank you thank you!

Annie Japannie said...

"what kind of Chinese food has red wine vinegar and ketchup in it? And cooked in a slow cooker?"

I have your answer- American Chinese Food.

Not that there's anything wrong with that... it's just its own genre. I actually have a big post in the works on my food blog

C Tam said...

hmmmm...I would have to say Annie Japannie is only half right. Apparently Hong Kong style Chinese food (authentic! REally!) also includes these two ingredients in a few dishes. For example, the tomato eggs dish my husband has been craving all week includes ketchup as an essential. It is his mom's recipe, and he lived in HK until he was 21.

And we just bought a half gallon jar of red wine vinegar from the Chinese market a week or so ago. So anyway, you might still give that crazy sounding recipe a try.

C Tam said...

Tomato egg recipe link:
http://www.beijingmadeeasy.com/chinese-recipes/egg-and-tomato-chinese-recipe

Also, my husband informs me the only dish Chinese people make in slow cookers is soup.

NessaAnn said...

Courtney... hmmm... With all due respect to your husband, I think ketchup must just be a man thing all the world over.

:D

That's half for my Dad. ha ha ha! He loves ketchup on his eggs, too. Weird, I say, but clearly now he can claim to be ethnic.

C Tam said...

oooOOO! You're askin me to bring out the big guns on this one.

Ever wonder why ketchup/catsup has alternate spellings?
In Cantonese:
ca= tomato
tsup= juice

Considering the etymelogical evidence, I would maintain that the sauce we call "ketchup" has just as legitimate a place in Chinese cooking as its sister soy sauce.

NessaAnn said...

I totally believe you, Courtney. I was just teasing my dad. So is catsup the same Heinz 57 over there or is it different?