From Simple Chinese Cooking: Chicken with Cashews

Chicken with cashews is a perennial favorite on the menu of Chinese restaurants all over the world.

Being that I love both chicken and cashews, by all rights I should love it.

However, far too often in my experience, it is a disappointing dish. Overcooked, bland chicken and soggy cashews drowning in puddles of oil and sticky but otherwise nondescript brown sauce is not really something that has ever tempted my palate. I have ordered it more than once, only to be sadly underwhelmed. I finally gave up on it years ago after a particularly nasty specimen filled with barely cooked onions and overcooked green peppers and old grease that gave me a nasty case of indigestion which lasted for days.

I decided that I just plain old didn’t like chicken with cashews, and was done with it.

That was until I looked at Kylie Kwong’s version from her book. Simple Chinese Cooking.

This version, with its stripped-down ingredient list (eight ingredients, one of which is the cooking oil), made me reconsider my former prejudice against the Chinese restaurant standard. The photograph also caught my eye, with its translucent slices of cucumber folded elegantly among the slivers of chicken and cashews. There was no gloppy brown sauce, and no film of cooking oil sullying the pristine perfection of the dish which was garnished with a liberal scattering of finely cut scallion tops.

Of course I had to cook it, since I was in danger of salivating all over the glossy page.

After wiping my mouth, I headed to the kitchen, and gathered the ingredients. I would like to note that if one were to use sherry instead of Shao Hsing wine, every last one of the ingredients for this dish could come from any American grocery (and/or liquor) store; there is absolutely no need to go to the Asian market.

And yet, the results are quintessentially Cantonese in flavor.

I did add three things to the recipe the second time I made it; I think that the additions were admirable, and in no way overcomplicated the recipe. First of all, where Kwong uses a tablespoon of water in the marinade, I used a tablespoon of chicken stock. Since I froze some of my chicken stock in tablespoon portions, it was simple, but one could also use Pacific Organic Chicken Broth which comes in one-cup sizes to get that tablespoon and then put the rest in the fridge to be used in or on something else.

I also added a half-teaspoon of raw sugar to the marinade, because sugar brings out the nutty flavor of Shao Hsing wine and does magical things with chicken. Finally, at the end, I drizzled an eighth of a teaspoon of sesame oil over the dish. It was barely perceptible, but still enriched the scent and flavor of both the chicken and the cashews.

Oh, and instead of tossing the cucumber slices into the wok at the end of cooking and stirring them around, I served them piled up around the chicken and cashews. I regretted having to do so, but because neither Zak nor Morganna like cukes, I didn’t have much in the way of a choice on the matter. The portion in my bowl got mixed together and the flavor, texture and temperature contrast was delightful: the cucumber was delicate enough to complement the chicken without overwhelming it the way another vegetable might.

I did not follow Kwong’s cooking directions to use a full quarter cup of cooking oil and cook the chicken in batches, either, as my wok is large enough to cook all of the chicken at the same time. The amount of oil was in my opinion too much; however, I will place her amounts and ingredients first, with my changes in parenthesis so that you can decide how you want to cook your version of the dish.

Oh, and one more thing–do try and use the highest quality chicken you can get for this. The seasoning are so simple that the quality of the meat is crucial to the final outcome of the dish. I used locally raised free-range organic chicken breasts (because that is what I had on hand–Kwong stipulates chicken thighs), and the meat was silken and juicy, tender and flavorful.

Chicken with Cashews

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless thighs (or breasts), cut into 1″ X 1/4″ slices
1 medium sized cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/4 cup peanut or canola oil (2-3 tablespoons peanut or canola oil)
1 cup roasted unsalted cashew nuts
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons (1/8 cup) Shao Hsing wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons (1 1/2 teaspoons) sea salt
3/4 cup finely sliced scallion tops
(1/8 teaspoon sesame oil)

Marinade Ingredients:

2 tablespoons Shao Hsing wine or dry sherry
2 tablespoons cornstarch
(1 tablespoon chicken broth or stock)
1 teaspoon (1/2 teaspoon) sea salt
(1/2 teaspoon raw or brown sugar)

Method:

Mix together chicken with marinade ingredients and allow to sit for thirty minutes.

Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise, and then cut into thin slices on the diagonal. Set aside.

When the chicken is finished marinating, heat wok over high heat. When a thin thread of smoke wisps up, pour oil into the wok. If you have a wok large enough, cook the chicken all in one batch, if not, cook it in two batches.

When the oil is hot, add chicken, and spread into a single layer onto the bottom of the wok. Allow to cook undisturbed for thirty seconds to one minute–when the edges begin to turn whitish, and the chicken smells as if it is browning, start stir frying it. When 2/3 of the chicken is white rather than pink, add the garlic and the cashews, and continue stir frying until all of the chicken is white.

Add wine or sherry, salt, scallions, cucumbers and sesame oil. Give a few stirs, and then serve with steamed rice and a vegetable dish.

10 Comments

RSS feed for comments on this post.

1. I love the way a dash of sesame oil always imparts that certain flavor. It’s like magic! This sounds delish, I’ll definitely have to try it.

   Comment by Lisa (Homesick Texan) — February 23, 2007 #

2. In the UK this dish is very retro, so I expect to see it making a big comeback very soon if it hasn’t already. We seem to be in the middle of a big 1970s thing here.

   Comment by Trig — February 23, 2007 #

3. This looks fabulous! Yum.

   Comment by Gluten-Free By The Bay — February 23, 2007 #

4. This looks fabulous and easy. Nothing like the “Springfield Cashew Chicken” that turned me off of ordering this.

   Springfield Cashew Chicken was proudly displayed on the signboards and menus of the few Chinese restaurants in Springfield, MO. So one time when we were visiting my grandparents there, my uncle took us kids out for his favorite dish. It contains battered and fried boneless chicken pieces, in a traditional american brown gravy served over white rice with a few cashews sprinkled on top. Can you say brown bland and greasy?

   Thanks for the inspiration to get serious about eating local and in season. I just found out that the rice growers here in TX now are selling a Brown Texmati (Basmati type) rice.

   Comment by TXRN2B — February 23, 2007 #

5. Hey Barbara,

   That dish looks great.

   I admit to still being a very inexperienced cook and recently wanted to include some cashews in some of my stir fry dishes. All I usually have on hand are raw cashews which I keep fresh in the refrigerator as I find pre-packaged roasted nuts seem to smell oldish. So I assumed all I had to do was stir fry them first up in a hot wok with very little oil until golden brown and let them cool whilst cooking the remainder of the meal. They cook very quicky. I found once they cool the cashews become lovely and crunchy and seem to stay this way when added at the end.

   I’m sure this is nothing new for experienced cooks here but they sure taste better than buying pre-packaged roasted cashews and have a much fresher taste and aroma which I think comes through in the overall stir fry.

   Cheers – Gordon

   Comment by Gordon — February 23, 2007 #

6. I can’t wait to try this–I too have been many times disappointed by Cashew Chicken–I kept ordering it because of a stubborn love of cashews, but only once or twice has it been really good.

   Comment by lucette — February 25, 2007 #

7. Sounds awesome. Can’t wait to try it.

   Comment by Dave — February 25, 2007 #

8. I would like to try this recipe.
   You list
   2 tablespoons (1/8 cup) Shao Hsing wine or dry sherry in the recipe but do not list it in the instructions?
   Thanks Linda
   elayjosh@rogers.com

   Comment by linda — February 7, 2008 #

9. Thank you, Linda–I edited the wine back into the recipe. Typos suck.

   Comment by Barbara — February 7, 2008 #

10. I made this recipe last night along with the Hot and Sour soup recipe from this website. This was my first use of my new carbon steel wok on my restaruant stock burner that I have outside.

    As far as cooking with the wok goes, I *love* it! I followed the seasoning instructions given by Barbara in a separate thread (including sauteeing some garlic, ginger, and scallions as part of the seasoning) so this was the first time I actually cooked something in it that I intended to eat. The wok turned very dark brown (which I really liked) while I was cooking. Cooking on the wok is really fun! Because my burner is so hot I can cook everything really fast and I love shoveling around huge amounts of food in the wok. It’s an exciting and dynamic way to cook and I can’t wait to do it again!

    The recipe turned out delicious. I doubled it and probably should have cooked the chicken in batches to attain more browning. I thought the amount of garlic and scallion seemed a little excessive until I saw the finished result and realized it was spot-on. Since I am eating low carb, I omitted the brown sugar (and the rice), and I think the overall dish would really have tasted a lot better with the sugar included.

    Overall, an awesome dish and easy to do. I used chicken thighs, my favorite part of the chicken, and the meat was tender and juicy.

    Comment by Jim — March 9, 2008 #

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.