Cashew Chicken (ไก่ผัดเม็ดมะม่วงหิมพานต์)

Cashew Chicken - ไก่ผัดเม็ดมะม่วงหิมพานต์ (not spicy!)

I've been wanting to teach you one of my very favorite recipes! So, are you guys ready to make one of the most delicious Thai dishes? Even though it's not as famous as Tom yum Koong, Pad Thai or Papaya salad, well, here I want to reassure you that this is very DELICIOUS. It's also one of the most popular dishes for both Thais and foreigners.

This dish will give you a good mix of both savory and sweet flavors. The tenderness of juicy chicken mixed with the crispiness of roasted cashew go so well together in one bite. All of the ingredients are fresh and healthy! The total time is around 30 minutes, and it's very quick easy to make.

So what are you waiting for?? ..Let's get started!

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Make: 2 servings

Ingredients:

garlic ----- 5 cloves
chicken breast ----- 200 g
cashew nut ----- 1/2 cup
onion ----- 1/2 cup
dried chili ----- 5 (or fewer depending on preference)
chive ----- 1/3 cup
mushroom ----- 100 g (optional - choose one that is not so watery when it's cooked)
sesame oil ----- 2 tbs
chili paste ----- 2 tbs
fish sauce ----- 1 tsp
soy sauce ----- 1 tbs

dry ingredients

liquid ingredients

Preparation :

Peel the garlic and chop into small pieces
Peel the skin off the onion and chop into large pieces
Chop off the root part of chive. Chop the green part into 1 inch lengths, and chop the light green/white part thinner than that
Slice chicken breast into bite size pieces, and try to remove the fat and the skin
Put the skillet on the stove on medium-high heat. Wait for about 3 minutes until the skillet is hot,and then add 1/2 cup of cashew to the skillet. Roast the cashews, stirring constantly, until they turn golden with slightly brown burnt color. They will be more crispy and give you a much stronger scent and flavor. Set the cashews aside for now. We will use the same skillet for the next step. The best way to know whether they are ready is to taste them, but I warn you, it's hard to stop once you've tasted the first roasted cashew!
Put the dried chili to the skillet. Roast them until they are more crispy. You can tell whey they are ready by the brown burnt stripes that appear on their skin.
Next, chop the dried chili on the cutting board into 1 inch pieces. **Here is a trick: put chopped dried chili in a container and shake the seeds off (make sure you cover the top too! it could sting you if the seed touch your skin!) The seeds are really easy to shake off of the dried chili. Since most of the spicy oil in contained in the seeds, removing them will get rid of too much spiciness.
(+/- Optional) slice the mushroom into bite size pieces. Don't forget to choose the one that won't give so much water when it's cooked! ( I know I have told you already😅but it's really important! Too much water from the mushrooms could mess up your recipe.)

onion

chopped onion and garlic

chopped leek

roasted cashews

roasted chilies

chop the chilies and remove the seeds

Instructions:

Heat the skillet to medium heat for about 3 minutes.
Add 2 tbsp of sesame oil, and wait until the oil is heated.
Add chopped garlic and fry in the sesame oil until it turn slightly golden.
Add chopped onion to the skillet and fry until they turn transparent.
Add the sliced chicken to the skillet and increase the heat to medium-high heat.
Add 2 tbs of chili paste on top of the chicken.
Use a spatula to stir until the chicken is fully cooked. By this point, all of the ingredients are covered with a nice golden color from the chili paste.
If you like, you can now add mushroom in the skillet. Stir all the ingredients together.
Add 1/3 cup of chive, mix, then turn the heat off***
Add cashew and dried chili in the skillet, mix them well, and it's done!
Enjoy our meal!