Thai Cashew Nut Stirfry

If you’re new around here, you probably don’t know that my love for Thai food runs deep. I have never had a Thai dish I didn’t like. One of my very favorite things to order at a Thai restaurant is the Cashew Nut Stir Fry. It typically is loaded with bell peppers, carrots, onions, garlic, cashews and chicken in a sweet and savory, almost smoky sauce. The sauce is the best part, its almost hard to describe until you’ve tasted it but its addicting. Especially when the rice soaks it up a little bit.

When I first sought out to recreate this dish at home, I was clueless as to what the sauce consisted of. After a little research, it turns out most Thai stir fry sauces are actually pretty simple. They are typically made up of sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce with the occasional addition of other ingredients like garlic and ginger. Once I figured out the best ratio of soy sauce, sugar and fish sauce, the rest was really simple, add some veggies and some protein and you have a full blown Thai dinner in 30 minutes or less. This is the perfect easy dinner for those that want something full of flavor but don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen making it.

Tips & Tricks

• Let’s talk fish sauce. It can be an intimidating ingredient for some. Especially those that hate fish in general. Take a word of advice and just trust me on this one, even if you hate fish, you will love this dish. Fish sauce doesn’t taste fishy AT ALL. It’s just chuck full of delicious flavor. Think of it like a Thai version of a chicken bouillon cube. Whatever you do, DO NOT skip this ingredient. You can find it at all grocery stores in the Asian section.
• My store was out of red bell peppers when I took photos of this dish so I substituted orange. You can mix and match whatever vegetables you would like to add.
• Cooking times may very depending on your stove top. Adjust the times accordingly. You don’t want to have soggy vegetables, you want them to be soft but not mushy so test the doneness of your vegetables throughout the process.
• There aren’t a whole lot of tricks to this recipe because its so straight forward and simple! I hope you love it as much as I do!

Thai Cashew Nut Stirfry

Ingredients:

Serves 4

• 2 medium sized chicken breasts, sliced into really thin strips
• 2 tbsp olive or coconut oil
• 1 small red bell pepper, cut into small chunks
• 1 small green bell pepper, cut into small chunks
• 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks
• 1 small onion, cut into small chunks
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 scallions, sliced
• 3/4 cup salted cashews
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Rice to serve with

1. Add sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce and water to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Stir mixture often as you go through the following steps to ensure the sugar dissolves.
2. Add your oil to a large skillet and turn heat to medium.
3. Add onion and carrot to the pan and saute, for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add chicken to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
5. Add bell peppers and garlic to the skillet and cook for 5-10 minutes or until bell peppers are no longer crisp.
6. Add the sauce to the skillet and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
7. Stir in cashews and taste. Add salt and pepper if needed.
8. Remove from heat and stir in chopped scallions.
9. Serve hot over jasmine rice.