Cashew Chicken

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a grocery store called “Food Basket”. I would shop there and life was good.

Then it was sold and became Lucky’s. That lasted a while and I shopped there. Life was fine. But Lucky’s was not very lucky I guess.

Then it went out of business and became, well, it kind of disappeared as far as I can tell. Dave thinks Ralph’s bought them.

But back when life was good and  it was Food Basket, I was shopping one day and picked up a recipe from a rack near the meat department. It was for cashew chicken and has been a family staple ever since. My original recipe is gone, but I still have my hand written recipe card and some time I may scan it in. For now, I will just give you the recipe so you can make it for you and yours. It is tres easy. It almost takes more time to assemble the ingredients than to cook it. If you are making it for more than 4, it is easy to increase the ingredients, including more chicken broth with a little more cornstarch for more sauce.

Lets start with chicken.

white meat, cut into cubes

• 2 Chicken breasts, boned, but into 1″ strips
• 3 Tbsp oil
• 1 green pepper cut into 1″ strips
• 1 10 oz (or so) pkg thawed frozen peas
• 1 small can water chestnuts, sliced
• 2/3 cups chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp corn starch
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp. ground ginger (or grated fresh ginger for real flavor zing)
• 8 oz can sliced bamboo shoots
• 2 green onions cut into 1″ slices.
• 3/4 cups cashews

assemble your ingredients

Now, heat the oil in a skillet and saute the chicken until white. Stir in green pepper, peas and water chestnuts. (feel free to vary the amounts depending on your families preference).

In a bowl, combine broth, cornstarch, sugar, ginger and soy sauce. Pour over the chicken and veggies and stir until sauce thickens. Add shoots and green onions and heat 1 minute.

Stir in cashews and serve over hot rice.

Yes, it is that easy.

Cashew chicken over brown rice.