Recipes

Cashew Chicken

Gai Pad Mamuang Himaphan

Fried chicken and cashews tossed in a sticky garlic-oyster sauce with fresh and dried chili

Prep

10 min

Cook

10 min

Serves

4

Heat

medium

This cashew chicken builds flavor in layers: cashews and dried chili flash-fried in oil first for color and crunch, then flour-coated chicken fried gently until just cooked through. The same oil, poured down to a spoonful, becomes the base for a garlicky, sticky brown sauce that the fried chicken and nuts get tossed back into at the end, along with fresh chili and green onion added just long enough to warm through and stay crisp. The result is juicier and more textured than the syrupy, mass-produced version of cashew chicken found in a lot of restaurants abroad.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 lb Chicken leg meat, boneless and skinless (cut into large chunks)
• 2/3 cup Cashew nuts
• 7 Thai long chilies (fresh, halved, seeded, cut into strips)
• 2 Wax peppers (sliced diagonally, seeded)
• 5 Sun-dried Thai long chili (cut into 1-inch pieces, seeded)
• 2/3 Brown or yellow onion, small (sliced into wedges)
• 3 Green onions (cut into 1-inch pieces)
• 3-4 Garlic, large cloves (finely chopped)
• 1/3 cup All-purpose flour
• 1/3 teaspoon White pepper, finely ground
• 2 3/4 tablespoons Oyster sauce
• 2/3 teaspoon Light soy sauce
• 2/3 teaspoon Dark sweet soy sauce
• 1 1/3 teaspoons Sugar
• 1 1/3 cups Vegetable oil (for frying)
• 1/3 cup Water (as needed for the sauce)

Directions

1. Cut the chicken into large chunks. Mix the white pepper into the flour, then toss with the chicken in a bag or bowl until lightly and evenly coated.
2. Cut the dried chilies into pieces and remove the seeds. Halve, seed, and slice the fresh long chilies into strips; slice the wax pepper diagonally and seed it. Cut the green onion into pieces, slice the onion into wedges, and chop the garlic.
3. Heat the oil in a large wok until just barely hot enough to fry. Fry the cashews until lightly browned, watching closely so they don't burn, then remove to drain on paper towel.
4. Fry the dried chili pieces for just a couple of seconds, until they brighten in color, then remove immediately.
5. Fry the floured chicken over low heat for about 5 minutes, until the coating sets and the chicken is cooked through (it won't brown deeply). Remove to drain on paper towel.
6. Pour off most of the oil, leaving about a tablespoon. Fry the garlic over low heat for about 30 seconds, then add the onion and cook another minute.
7. Add the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark sweet soy sauce, and sugar. Stir until hot and bubbly, then add a splash of water to build a thick brown sauce, keeping a little extra water on hand to maintain the sauce as you cook.
8. Add the fried chicken and toss to coat well. Add a little more water if needed, raise the heat, and stir-fry for about a minute until hot again.
9. Add the fried cashews and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Add the fresh chili, wax pepper, and green onion, stirring and adding water as needed, and fry for about 30 seconds more.
10. Turn off the heat and keep stirring as the pan cools. Serve on a shared plate or over rice, topped with the fried dried chili pieces.

Notes

Fry the cashews and dried chili in stages, pulling each out the moment it changes color — both burn within seconds of being perfectly done.

Substitutions

Chicken breast can replace the leg meat, though leg meat stays juicier through the frying step. Bell pepper can stand in for wax pepper if needed.