dx4.org :: food :: cashewchicken

Under Laura's expert tutilage, I've been expanding my cooking skills over the last year or so. Unfortunately, visiting home and staying with my parents presents a bit of a challenge. I've got lots of time and raw ingredients to work with, but my parents are very health-conscious and would not appreciate the levels of cheese and pork sausage that are usually present in my food. This recipe was an experimental compromise that turned out well.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup Thai fish sauce
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Thai hot pepper sauce
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon ginger root, minced
  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into thin strips
  • 2 cups jasmine rice
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 small onion, quartered then sliced
  • 1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 zucchini, chopped
  • 1 yellow squash, chopped
  • 6 ounces of broccoli, chopped
  • 8 ounces of fresh mushrooms, quartered
  • 3/4 cup of water
  • 3 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter
  • 1 cup of unsalted cashews

Directions

  • In a resealable plastic bag, mix the soy sauce, fish sauce, hot pepper sauce, garlic and ginger. Place the chicken in the bag, seal, and marinate for at least two hours in the refrigerator.
  • Cook the rice as you ordinarily would.
  • Heat the sesame oil in a (very) large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar until disolved. Stir in the onion and cook about 5 minutes, until tender.
  • Reserving the marinade mixture, place the chicken into the skillet, and cook about 10 minutes, until browned.
  • Add the rest of the vegetables, stir the reserved marinade and the 3/4 cup of water into the skillet, and bring to a boil. Continue to cook and stir until the vegetables reach the desired level of doneness, about 5 minutes. Blend in the peanut butter, and serve over rice with cashews sprinkled on top.

My only complaint with this recipe is that it turned out very salty. I was already using a reduced salt soy sauce and the least salty fish sauce I could find, so I'm not sure what to adjust. The next time I make it, I'll probably use less soy sauce in the marinade, and maybe unsalted peanut butter.

This recipe was adapted from various sources on the web, particularly All Recipes.