Chinese Cashew Chicken

Last night I did a LIVE cooking demo for my husband’s company, New Frontiers. The first time we did this I demo-ed my favorite, Spaghetti Carbonara. This time we went Asian with it because honestly, there is NO good Chinese food out here in The Hamptons (please please please feel free to correct me if you know something I don’t). The Prince LOVES Chinese so I’ve really been trying to work on my Asian-inspired cooking. Honestly, if you’re craving Chinese flavors, this hits the spot AND won’t make you sick the next day 🙂 SHOPPING LIST: 1 lb. chicken breasts, 1 cup cashews, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, creamy peanut butter, sesame oil, sriracha, rice wine vinegar, salt pepper, grapeseed oil Dice your chicken or use a kitchen shears to cut your chicken into small 1-inch pieces. In a small bowl, toss your chicken with 1/4 cup of soy sauce. When cooking Asian-style chicken, I always like to toss my proteins in a little soy sauce before cooking because I find the chicken absorbs the flavors much better when it’s raw. In a small pot, add 1/3 cup of soy sauce, 3 tB. of peanut butter, 2 tB. of hoisin sauce, 2 tB. of sesame oil, 2 tB. of rice wine vinegar and a dash of sriracha (or more if you like it spicy). Let the mixture come to a boil so the peanut butter melts and the sauce is incorporated and then allow it to simmer. Season your sauce with salt and pepper to taste and allow it to thicken while you cook your chicken. In a hot pan, add 1/4 cup of oil of grapeseed oil over medium-high heat. Begin to saute your chicken cubes in the hot oil, allowing them to get a good sear on one side before beginning to mix them around. Once your chicken begins to brown, you can give it a nice toss and then season with salt and pepper. Allow your chicken to cook another couple minutes without touching so it continues to get a nice sear and then add your sauce to the chicken mixture (just enough so that it coats the chicken – you may NOT need to use all of your sauce, so pour slowly). Allow the chicken to finish cooking in the sauce. Finally, add 1 cup of cashews and mix well so that cashews are evenly coated with your peanut sauce as well.  We like to serve this with plain white rice in my house. However, last night I realized that the leftover peanut sauce – mixed with a little HOT chili oil – would have made for a killer sesame noodles if I had Lo Mein noodles on hand. Next time!