Stir-fried Chicken Fillets with Cashews (adapted by moi)
Marinade1 tbsp shao hsing wine or dry sherry
1 tbsp cornstarch
1.5 tsp cold water
1/2 tsp sea salt
Chicken
400g boneless, chicken thighs (about 4 thighs)
1 medium zucchini
2 tbsp veg oil
1/2 cup raw cashews
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp shao hsing wine or dry sherry
1 tsp sea salt
3 finely sliced green onions
1. Combine chicken with marinade ingredients & marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Chop veggies.
3. Heat oil in wok & stir-fry chicken until cooked through and slightly browned. Remove from wok with slotted spoon & place in a bowl.
4. Stir-fry veggies until tender. Add nuts & stir-fry until golden.
5. Return chicken to wok with accumulated juices. Increase heat to high and add wine/sherry. Stir-fry for a few more moments. Season with salt.
6. Serve & garnish with some more green onions.
I suspect that, with this recipe, I was really missing the shao hsing wine. Try as I might, I cannot find this ingredient anywhere in da boonies. We simply don't have the population for specialty ingredients like this, and I think I'm going to need to get to a larger centre, like Vancouver or Calgary, in order to do pick up some of these more obscure items. Instead of shao hsing wine, I've been using cooking sherry, which is OK, but this dish needed a lot of help flavour-wise. I wound up adding a bunch of soy sauce to boost the flavours.
I served this over rice, and it was a good meal. I really liked using the chicken thighs; they aren't something I use a lot - I always thought them too fatty. But they are quite succulent and flavourful, and not to mention, cheaper than breasts. I'll definitely cook with them again!
I probably won't make this recipe until I get my hands on some real shao hsing, but it's still not a bad recipe. Worth attempting again once I get the right ingredients.
8 comments:
It looks really good!
Even the dry sherry at the liquor store might be better than the grocery store stuff. There is something about the booze that adds to the dish. Maybe even try some sake.
You are making me want to buy Kylie's books! Her recipes do sound really tempting.
I prefer thighs to the breast meat because I find white meat dries out a bit much. That cookbook is getting some good use!
Another delicious one! I love cashews - and zucchini sound a lot better than cucumber in this.
Looks good, too bad you found it bland. Maybe tossing a little hoisin sauce in there would be good, my favorite chicken with cashews dish has that in it and it's awesome.
chicken thighs are a secret weapon of grillers and smokers. In most competitions, they are the piece of the chicken that gets entered the most. The white meat had a good press agent, but thighs are the bees knees for cooks
These look great.
I love chinese food. Those chicken fillets looks so yummy.
It still looks great even though you had to tinker with it!
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