Cashew Chicken

Man, do I love Chinese food. To think, there was a day that I would only eat spareribs, but thanks to my late brother Gary, I'm now willing to try so many things. Cashew chicken has always been my favorite and I would always get it when I lived in San Francisco (such great Chinese food). The sauce was the perfect balance between savory and sweet and the cashews were never mushy. So I decided it was about time that I try to make a comparable, if not better, cashew chicken dish at home. Now don't get scared... it's not that hard to make restaurant quality chinese food at home. Sure, there are sometimes quite a few ingredients and a little bit of slicing, dicing, and chopping, but the end result is sure worth it. This Cashew Chicken recipe is really quite easy to make and tastes absolutely delicious. Enjoy!!!

Cashew Chicken (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 TB cornstarch
2 TB vegetable or canola oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
8 scallions, white and green parts separated, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 TB rice vinegar
3 TB hoisin sauce
1 cup baby corn, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup water chestnuts
1 red bell pepper, medium dice
3/4 cup roasted, unsalted cashews
coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions:

1) Toss chicken with the cornstarch in a bowl until well coated. Season with 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper.
2) In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil over med-high heat until very hot. Cook half of the chicken, tossing often, until browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
3) Add more oil and remaining chicken to wok along with garlic, the white parts of scallions, red bell pepper, baby corn and water chestnuts. Cook, tossing often, until chicken is browned, about 3 minutes. Return first batch of chicken to wok and add the vinegar. Cook until evaporated, about 30 seconds.
4) Add hoisin sauce and 1/4 cup of water; cook, tossing until chicken is cooked through, about 1 minute. Remove wok from heat. Stir in scallion greens and cashews. Serve with rice if desired.

An absolutely delicious dish. Prep time takes about 30 minutes and total cook time maybe another 20 t0 30 minutes. Truly worth the time. If you like, serve over a bed of white rice. The chicken will be really moist and flavorful with the water chestnuts, baby corn and cashews adding contrasting textures to the chicken. The red bell pepper and green scallions add nice color to the dish. Enjoy!!!