If you are a fan of Thai food, you would likely know the popularity of nuts which are found in many famous Thai dishes. From peanuts to cashews, many Thai dishes, especially curries, consist of nuts.
A variety of dishes and soups even consist of nut oil or are cooked in nut butter. So, if you have any nut allergies, it is important to ask them before ordering something.
Today, we will learn how to make a scrumptious delicious chicken cashew dish packed with protein and all the health benefits of cashews. Cashew chicken is a popular dish that, when prepared right, hits all the notes. You can even buy cashews online to make sure you’ve got the best ingredients for an authentic experience.
Thai Cashew Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
Seasoning Sauce
- 1 tablespoon sweet dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1/ 2 teaspoon white pepper, ground
- 6 tablespoon chicken stock or water (we prefer using stock as it consists of more flavor)
Curry
- 400 grams of boneless chicken cut into bite-sized cubes.
- 2 tablespoon of all-purpose white flour (you may also use cassava flour if you are opting for a gluten-free variant).
- ⅔ cup of cooking oil. Use any variant that you have even olive oil.
- 2 tablespoon of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 cup yellow onion wedges
- ⅔ cup Thai red chilies, deep fry them
- 1 cup raw cashews
- ⅔ cup red spur chilies, thinly sliced
- ⅔ cup banana chili peppers, thinly sliced
- ⅔ cup spring onion cut into small chunks of 2.5 cm each
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Make sure they are well-blended and set the bowl aside. We will use it later.
- Heat up the oil in your wok or deep fry pan and add your cashews to the oil. Fry them for a minute or minute and a half maximum.
- As soon as they turn golden brown, take them out of the wok and straight on an absorbent paper. This is a quick step and hence your oil has to be hot otherwise the cashews won’t turn golden.
- Make sure that the oil is drained properly. The quality of cashews also matters a lot here.
- Then use the same oil to fry the dry chilies. Fry them for a minute and they will turn crispy. Don’t let them turn black. Similarly, drain the oil from chilies and set them aside.
- For the chicken, you need to defrost it, dice it into bite-sized cubes (make sure there are no bones), mix them with flour to create an even coat.
- After proper coating, fry the chicken in the same oil. You might want to reduce the heat a bit to make sure that the chicken is cooked all the way. It normally takes 5 to 6 minutes for the chicken to cook all the way without drying out.
- As soon as the external coating starts to turn golden, take it out of the oil and drain any excess oil to keep the chicken crispy.
- Cut down all your vegetables. We have mentioned the preparation of vegetables in the ingredients above so you might want to look at that.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil in a clean wok (you can use a frying pan as well) and set it to heat at a medium-high flame.
- Put garlic in the oil and fry it for a couple of seconds. As soon as the garlic starts getting golden, put in the onions and fry the mix until the onions lose color and become translucent.
- Add the thinly sliced chilies next to the mix. At this stage, if your wok starts getting dry, you can add a little bit of oil or water to ensure that the vegetables do not get charred or burnt.
- Remember the seasoning sauce that we set aside? Take it out and add it in the wok till it thickens and turns into a sticky gloop.
- Finally add all your deep-fried items, the chicken, cashews, and the fried chilies. Mix them and gently stir until each and every ingredient is coated with sauce. If you feel that the sauce isn't coating well, you can add a few drops (around a tablespoon) or water.
- In the end, add your green onions and fry them for a few seconds until their flavor blends in with the fry. You can sprinkle the Thai cashew chicken with cashew powder if you like to have an elevated cashew flavor
- Don’t forget to turn off the heat.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 937Total Fat: 68gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 55gCholesterol: 90mgSodium: 810mgCarbohydrates: 47gFiber: 6gSugar: 13gProtein: 40g
Serving
You can serve this delicious recipe with hot steamed rice as they do in Thailand but for a bit of a fusion, many people enjoy this recipe with Chinese fried rice or vegetable chow mein. Your call really!
Cashews are a common ingredient in Thai cuisine. It can be used to prepare different curries and your Thai cashew chicken is a scrumptious recipe that can be made even elevated with a bit of cashew powder.