Chicken has this wonderful property of pairing perfectly with nuts, in this case, cashews, to create the famous cashew chicken recipe
If you’re not familiar with it, it’s impossible to guess the taste from just the ingredients. It’s typically one of those magical dishes that produce a deliciously complex flavor impossible to recreate otherwise, and today I’m sharing its secrets with you
Tips for Cashew Chicken
- Don’t skimp on the cornstarch for the sauce; it’s what gives it its unique texture.
Sauce is the same concept for all sauces. Chinese white sauce, sweet and sour sauce, sweet and sour sauce, General Tao’s chicken sauce, honey-garlic chicken sauce… all have one ingredient in common: cornstarch, which is the secret of beautiful, gooey Asian sauces. Here, it’s in the marinade, but the principle is the same.
The only drawback of a sticky sauce like the one in cashew chicken is that the consistency doesn’t last. I’m sure you’ve ordered Chinese food before and found pieces of meat in a very watery sauce (in a bad way) the next day.
This is because cornstarch can only maintain its nice texture for about an hour at most.
What I usually do when something like this happens is throw the leftovers into a saucepan and stir in a little extra cornflour (once the ingredients are hot) to bring the texture back. Most of the time it works, but there have been dishes I couldn’t save this way. 80% success, 20% failure I’d say.
In the same style, you’ll also like the lemongrass chicken. It’s a bit different from cashew chicken in terms of taste, but the structure remains similar
Ingredients
- 150 g of roasted and unsalted cashews
- 60 ml water
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons of hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 700 g of boneless, skinless chicken breasts or fillets, cut into pieces
- 0.5 teaspoon salt
- 0.25 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 6 cloves of medium garlic, minced
- 8 green onions, white and green parts separated, each cut into approximately 1cm pieces
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 0.25 teaspoon sesame oil
Procédé
- Place the cashews on a baking sheet in a single layer. Roast in the oven at 180 degrees for about 5 minutes. Set aside
- Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: in a small bowl, whisk together the water, cornstarch, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce. Set aside.
- Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix to coat evenly.
- In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over high heat until very hot. Add half of the chicken to the pan and stir-fry until lightly golden but not completely cooked, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan; then add the remaining chicken, garlic, and white parts of the green onions. Stir-fry until the chicken is lightly golden but not completely cooked, about 3 minutes. Return the first batch of chicken to the pan. Lower the heat to medium and add the rice vinegar; cook until evaporated, about 30 seconds.
- Add the sauce mixture to the chicken; cook, stirring, until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce is well thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in the green parts of the green onions, cashews, and sesame oil. Serve immediately. (Personally, I love it with sushi rice)
