I’ve had these lovely roasted, salted cashews from Trader Joe’s for a few weeks now. After eating quit a few of them I decided the better part of valor, or something like that, was to put them aside for something special. Mmmm… …how about Cashew Chicken one night? Well last night was the night.
The chicken I had, the cashews I had – I googled Cashew Chicken – well, that’s all I had. What didn’t I have?
Rice wine
Green onions
Hoisin or teriyaki sauce
Peanut oil or Sesame Oil
Fresh ginger
Chinese noodles
Fresh red or green pepper
I am the champion of substitutions and winging it. So, here’s my final recipe:
1 10 oz. chicken breast – this was really a lot
1 Tbsp. sherry
1 Tbsp. Orange juice
1 tsp. corn starch
1 medium onion, sliced
2 Tbsp. canola oil
2 Tbsp. lite soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. molasses
8 stalks of asparagus (mine were frozen) cut in smaller pieces
1 2 oz. jar of sliced pimentos
½ cup roasted cashews
¼ cup ginger ale (I drank the rest with my dinner)
Cube the chicken into ¾ in. pieces, then mix with the next 3 ingredients and let it all marinate for 20 minutes or longer. And yes, I could have used white wine, but the O.J. seemed like a good idea.
Start the onion sautéing in the oil, after a few minutes add the soy sauce, sugar and molasses. Then add the marinated chicken mixture. Sauté all this until the chicken is just about done. Add the asparagus pieces, the pimentos and their liquid, and the cashews.
Thin the sauce with the ginger ale. (I did have ground ginger but I wasn’t sure about how much to use, so I erred on the mild side and used the ginger ale.)
So – let me tell you: this was excellent. My husband really liked it. When he says something is as keeper I do take notice. Because there was really a lot of chicken I opted for no starch. Next time with a smaller chicken breast I think I’ll serve the whole thing over rice
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