Recipe: Chicken with Cashews

Chinese-Indonesian restaurants have been a widespread phenomenon in the Netherlands for more than seventy years. Who doesn’t have childhood memories of the local Chinese restaurant? In Chin. Ind. Rest. cookbook, all the classic recipes from the Chinese-Indonesian restaurant Fook Sing in Amsterdam have been recorded, from foe yong hai to a perfect bami goreng. But it also includes the recipes from behind the pass: what does the kitchen staff eat themselves, which dishes did they bring from the East and enjoy making at home? This chicken with cashews is one of our favorites.

Chicken with cashews is found in virtually every East Asian cuisine. From Thailand and Vietnam to China and Indonesia, they all have their own version. The combination of juicy, savory and crunchy makes it a versatile dish. For this recipe, it’s best to use chicken thigh fillet instead of chicken breast. The meat is much more tender and dries out less quickly. Incidentally, you can also replace the meat with shrimp, or make the dish entirely vegetarian with deep-fried tofu.

How to make chicken with cashews

• Soak the chicken in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes and rinse well. Cut the fillet in half lengthwise so that the slices become shorter. Cut the meat diagonally into ½-centimeter slices. If necessary, cut wide pieces (from the thick part of the fillet) in half once more.
• Make a marinade by mixing the stock powder, baking soda, cornstarch, salt, egg and 50 milliliters of water in a bowl. Add the chicken and mix until the chicken has absorbed all the marinade. Then cover the marinated chicken with 4 tablespoons of neutral oil and leave covered to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 30 minutes before using it to bring it to room temperature, and mix well so the oil is evenly distributed. Heat a generous layer of oil in a wok and fry the chicken for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until the meat is completely seared. Scoop the chicken out of the oil and let it drain on a wire rack until you use it.
• Heat the neutral oil in a wok over low heat and sauté the garlic, ginger, spring onion and white onion for 2 minutes, or until the garlic is golden brown. Add the chicken thigh fillet, red and green bell pepper, carrot and bamboo shoots, and stir-fry everything for 1 minute over high heat.
• Add the chicken stock, oyster sauce, salt, sugar and MSG, and bring everything to a boil. Add the leek and, to start with, 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch slurry, and bring everything back to a boil while stirring until the sauce becomes syrupy. If the sauce isn’t thick enough, add more cornstarch slurry until it reaches the right consistency. Turn off the heat and stir half of the cashews and the sesame oil into the sauce.
• Spoon the chicken with cashews onto a serving platter and garnish with the remaining cashews.

Title: Chin. Ind. Rest.
Authors: Danny Lee, Ka Fai Lee, Sun Li & Yan Ting Yuen
Price: €38,99
Publisher: Nijgh & Van Ditmar

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