Cashew Chicken Recipe (腰果鸡丁)

August 09, 2008

(Click the image above to view the complete photoset of 4 pictures)

To celebrate the Beijing Olympics, I am going to share some of the most popular Chinese food dishes with you in the next two weeks.

While Chinese food recipes are often featured here on Rasa Malaysia, I mostly share my favorite Chinese dishes--meaning those that I enjoy eating--with my readers. A simple Google search of the most popular Chinese food in the United States returns the following results:

Beef and Broccoli
Sweet and Sour Pork
Cashew Chicken
Crab Rangoon
Egg Drop Soup
Moo Goo Gai Pan
Chow Mein
Fried Rice
Kung Pao Chicken
Egg Roll and the list goes on

As a Chinese, I have to say that this is not the most interesting list. In fact, some of the dishes are not even real Chinese, for example: Moo Goo Gai WHAT? (Most of the dishes on the list are American-Chinese food, made popular by the Chinese restaurants in the United States. They are what general Americans know as Chinese food.)

Chinese cuisine--when done right--is pleasing, subtle, delicate, satisfying, and a great treat to the taste buds. However, most Chinese restaurants in the United States have pretty much butchered Chinese food and turned one of the greatest cuisines in the world into something vaguely recognizable--gooey, starchy, sticky, greasy, and downright unappetizing--one that is certain to leave a bad taste in the mouth of many diners...(Learn the SECRET of making Cashew Chicken after the jump)

Since most of my readers are Americans, I thought I would share with you the correct way of making these popular dishes. Today, I teach you the proper way of making Cashew Chicken--a very popular eat-in and take-out dish at Chinese restaurants in the United States.

The key to a great Chinese stir-fried chicken dish is simple: smooth and tender chicken meat lightly coated with a sauce, stir-fried over HIGH heat using a wok to achieve the breath of wok. To get the breath of wok, you can buy the cookbook here and learn the techniques. To make the chicken tender, I am going to share with you a secret--one that is used by many restaurants and Chinese chefs--BAKING SODA.

Baking soda serves two purposes: 1) to rid the chicken of any potential smell (I am sure you have had bad experiences eating chicken with a foul chicken-y odor, 2) to tenderize the meat. Just by looking at my pictures, you can tell that those chicken breast cubes are silky and tender. For the detailed instructions, please follow my Cashew Chicken recipe below.

SECRET TECHNIQUE: BAKING SODA is the secret weapon to make any meat--chicken, beef, pork--tender.

Anyway, once you try out my Cashew Chicken recipe, I am sure you will never go back to the gooey, sticky, starchy Cashew Chicken from your neighborhood Chinese joints again!

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Other featured and authentic Chinese recipes on Rasa Malaysia:

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Recipe: Cashew Chicken (腰果鸡丁)

Ingredients:

1 boneless & skinless chicken breast, about 10 oz. (cut into small cubes)
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1 small green bell pepper, about 4 oz. (cut into small square pieces)
5 slices ginger
1/4 onion (cut into small square pieces)

Marinate:

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon corn starch
1/2 teaspoon rice wine

Sauce:

1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
3/4 teaspoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons water
3 dashes white pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Marinate the chicken meat with the baking soda for 15-20 minutes and then rinse the chicken thoroughly. (Please make sure that the chicken is properly rinsed clean of the baking soda.)
Pat the chicken meat dry with paper towels and then marinate with the rest of the ingredients for 15 minutes.
Mix the sauce together and set aside.
Heat up a wok with 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and stir-fry the chicken meat until the color turns white or half-cooked. Dish out and set aside.
Add another 1 tablespoon of cooking oil into the wok and add in the ginger slices, bell peppers and onions.
Stir-fry until you smell the peppery aroma from the green peppers and add the chicken meat back in.
Add in the cashew nuts and do a few quick stirs.
Add in the sauce and stir continuously until the chicken meat is cooked and well coated with the sauce. Add salt to taste, dish out and serve the Cashew Chicken hot with steamed white rice.

Labels: Chinese Food, Chinese Recipes