Cashew Chicken (The Pioneer Woman) by Tom

UPDATED 2024

(Note from Barbara:  Now we use lightly salted roasted cashews because that's what we keep on hand...and it is just as good, maybe better.  Just cut back on the salt to taste. This is a heavy, filling dish.  To make it a little healthier, we add spinach.  Over rice.  With Brussels sprouts on the side or another veggie.)

Occasionally, we would order Cashew Chicken from our Chinese take out restaurant.  So after making Butter Chicken, which used unsalted cashews, I had quite a few unsalted cashews leftover and thought a natural use for them would be to make Cashew Chicken.  A very different taste than Butter Chicken.  Chinese versus Indian.

Searching the internet for Cashew Chicken recipes, I found this one from the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.  It looked easy to make and made good use of the leftover unsalted cashews.  It was not hard to make and the taste was delicious.

 ---Tom

Cashew Chicken  

( from The Pioneer Woman)

Serves 6

1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 whole boneless chicken thighs,cut into small cubes
Kosher salt to taste
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 whole yellow, red or orange bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1/2 cup drained canned whole water chestnuts, coarsely chopped roughly into quarters
1 cup unsalted cashews  (now we used salted)
2 whole green onions, thinly sliced
cooked rice for serving

In a small bowl mix together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, oyster sauce and the sesame oil.  Set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and add the chicken in a single layer.  Sprinkle with a small amount of salt, and then leave it alone for several minutes to give the chicken aa chance to brown.  When the chicken has turned golden, stir it around so that it can brown on all sides. At this point, my pan had too much liquid in it.  So I drained some of the liquid off.

Now add the garlic and ginger and stir to combine with the chicken.  Stir in the bell pepper and let it cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

While the pan is still hot, pour in the sherry.  Stir it around scraping the bottom of the skillet to loosen all of the flavorful bits.

Turn the heat to medium-low and pour in the sauce mixture.  Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup warm water to make a slurry.  Add that to the skillet.  Stir the sauce for 1 to 2 minutes to thicken.

Then add the water chestnuts

and cashews and stir to coat everything with the thickened sauce.  If you feel the sauce is too thick, just add a little water.

Finally sprinkle on the green onions and stir a bit more.

Prepare rice based on the directions on the package.  Rice usually takes about 20 minutes to cook and another 5-10 minutes to steam off the heat.  I started the rice before I started cooking the cashew chicken realizing that the rice would take longer to cook.

Plate a spoonful or two of rice on a plate and then spoon the Cashew Chicken mixture over the rice.

You are now finished and time to enjoy this concoction!

     ---Tom