Tag: Vegetable Fried Rice


Mar
2013

Chicken with Cashews

categories: Lifestyle, Recipes

Cashew Chicken

I’ve been collecting recipes on Pinterest for a couple of months, and I’ve tried a number of dishes with mixed results. Of the roughly half dozen dishes that I’ve tried so far, only three recipes are keepers: this sweet and sour chicken with vegetable fried rice that I blogged about several weeks ago and this cashew chicken from SheWearsManyHats.com.

The original recipe is served on lettuce wraps but I wanted a more substantial meal so I served the chicken with steamed white rice. I made some changes to the original recipe to suit my taste. Specifically, I doubled the amount of brown sugar in the sauce and I substituted spring onions for the yellow onion (although the next time I make this dish I would toss uncooked spring onions on top of the completed dish instead of stir frying it with the garlic because the onions wilted immediately). I also doubled the amount of stir fry sauce and I’m so glad I did because the sticky sweet and spicy sauce was fabulous. Heat wise, I give this dish a medium rating, so folks who prefer less heat may want to reduce the amount of ground red pepper in the sauce, though I think it’s perfect. Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this dish (my changes are included):

For the sauce:
  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground ginger root
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
For the cashew chicken:
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
  • 3 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 cup spring onions, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup cashews, chopped
Instructions:
  1. Combine the stir fry sauce ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.
  2. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the diced chicken and cook until no longer pink in the center (about   4-5 minutes); set aside.
  3. Add garlic and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce to the pan; cook for a minute or two then add the stir fry sauce, cooked chicken, and cashews. Saute the mixture and stir to combine; remove from heat. Top with diced spring onions.

Jan
2013

Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice

categories: Recipes

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice

I found these recipes for sweet and sour chicken and vegetable fried rice on Pinterest yesterday, and they looked so good that I had to try them. My daughter loves Chinese food, and the end results were so delicious that I scored lots of mom points with this dinner. I nearly asked her if I was “momtastic or momtacular.”

I tried two Pinterest recipes this weekend; one was a bomb so I was hesitant to try these recipes. I must say that the cooking process–dipping the chicken bits into cornstarch and then beaten egg and pan frying it was time consuming and created big messes on my counter tops, stove, and fingers. So some process improvement was in order. Halfway through the dipping process, while I was complaining about my messy counters and sticky fingers my daughter came up with a brilliant idea: just combine the cornstarch and eggs, stir it into a paste, and then pour it over the chicken. No more messy counters or hands, and it really sped up the preparation time.

This sweet and sour chicken is amazing but it’s loaded with sugar, salt, and fat. I reduced the garlic salt by half since there’s plenty of salt in the soy sauce, and didn’t miss it at all. I may substitute garlic powder for the garlic salt the next time I make this dish to further reduce the salt.

The vegetable fried rice was also delicious and a snap to prepare. No complaints here and no tweaking of the recipe was necessary. If you throw in some diced chicken, ham, or shrimp it would make a great main dish. With the process improvement now in place, this make-at-home sweet and sour chicken and vegetable fried rice are must tries. Here’s a close-up shot. Get the recipe here.

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice2

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