Last night, at around midnight (no, 12:35AM to be exact) me and my boyfriend went for chinese food at one of my favorite restaurants. Sure their method of pouring the tea is tipping the whole teapot across the table and hope that some will get into our tea cups. The food makes up for us having no napkins on account of all the tea spilled on the table.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but no matter how much tea ends up spilled around my tea cup, I am always satisfied by the food.
Me, being extremely naive, thought that the place would be virtually empty since this would be a really late time to be eating. But the place was half full. And this restaurant isn’t some little corner place. It has a lot of seating room in it. The table beside us had children! Kids around 4 or 5. WHY ARE YOU NOT SLEEPING LITTLE ONES??
We ordered some spicy cashew chicken. All it was was chicken and some spicy chillies. In some delicious sauce. Whatever they did to it, it tasted SO good.
Which made me want to make some cashew chicken of my own. Even though this version isn’t spicy, it is VERY good. I was quite pleased.
By the way, when we left that restaurant at 1:30ish, the place was packed. AND it had a lineup out the door. I never knew that this was a busy time for chinese restaurants..
What you’ll need:
-1 large boneless chicken breast, cut into cubes
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoon wine vinegar
-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
-1 tablespoon cornstarch
-2 tablespoons black bean sauce
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-2 tablespoons water
-1 teaspoon white sugar
-2 tablespoons oil
-1 clove garlic, finely chopped
-1/4 cup cashews
-1 red bell pepper, cut into cubes
-1/2 cup spinach
Directions:
1. In a bowl, mix together the salt, wine vinegar, ground ginger and cornstarch with the chicken, and let marinate for around 20 minutes
2. In a small bowl, combine the black bean sauce, soy sauce, water and sugar.
3. Heat a skillet on medium heat, and roast the cashews, shaking the pan to prevent the cashews from burning. Remove from skillet when the cashews are browned.
4. On the same skillet, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic. Fry for around 1 minute, then add the marinated chicken. Add the red pepper, spinach and black bean mixture. Fry for around 4 minutes, then mix in the cashews. Remove from heat.
This cashew chicken looks so good, it makes me want to stop being a vegetarian 😛
Lovely!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Cathleen I'm surprised as well that it was so crowded and with young children. Who knows maybe they were traveling and stopped for a late night snack.
Your recipe sounds yummy. I will have to try it.
My daughter loves cashew chicken. Will need to make this recipe since it's just the two of us for a couple of days. Thanks for sharing!
I love cashew chicken, but I'm never brave enough to make it myself in case it doesn't taste anything like the real thing! This recipe looks perfect though 🙂
This sounds delicious! I used to be one for late night hunts for food but I'm more of a cosy up in bed by 10 kinda girl these nights though 🙂
It is great when restaurant are open late, I frequently have late night cravings, by the way this chicken sounds very delicious!
I can't imagine going out to eat that late!! 🙂 Cashew chicken is one of my favorite things to get at Chinese restaurants.
Just mouthwatering…would love to have some!
Yummmm – this looks so delicious! I would eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! 🙂
You have cooked a delicious chicken dish! I am losing out from you….
Yum! Great rendition on cashew chicken!
Wow! All places in my town close by 9, or 8 if they're slow. Walmart is a different story, some parents take their kids there at midnight. Love this recipe! Definitely something I will enjoy!
Delicious, I like the combo of cashew and chicken together, then with soya sauce yumm.
Interesting recipe. My hubby loves chicken so I keep browsing for new recipes. Probably try this sometime!
My husband loves cashews and your cashew chicken sounds very good. I have a couple of little red chilies that would probably be good added to the recipe as he likes spicy chinese.