碎米鸡丁 Cashew Chicken

This dish tastes like carmel coated cashews and chicken which may sound like an odd combination but is actually very tasty. If you don't like it really sweet then decrease the sugar but I advise that you try it with the full amount first. You can also add vegetables to this dish as well with good results.

Ingredients:

500 grams chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 Tbsp. cooking wine
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg whites
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic sliced
1 inch piece of ginger grated on a small grate
1 tsp-1 Tbsp. pickeled red chili peppers, minced

Base Sauce:
1/4 cup chinese black vinegar (can sub. basalmic)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup cashews or a mixture of cashews and peanuts.
wet starch: 1/2 tsp. starch, 1 tsp. water

Instructions:
Marinate chicken in cooking wine and salt for 30 minutes.

 Whisk the cornstarch and egg white until frothy and stir into chicken.

 Prepare the base sauce and wetstarch.

 Prepare the garlic, ginger and chili's.

 Heat a wok over high heat and add 1/4 cup oil and swirl around. Add chicken and stir constantly until chicken turns white. Check a larger piece just to make sure that it is cooked all the way through. Do not overcook. Remove chicken from the wok. Alternately you can blanch the chicken in boiling water until it turns white and is cooked through. For more details click here.

Clean wok if needed then heat over high heat and add 2 Tbsp. oil. Add grated ginger and garlic slices. Once fragrant add pickled chilies and chicken back in and toss.

Add nuts. Add sauce and bring to a boil then stir in wet starch. Once sauce thickens and sticks to chicken and nuts remove.

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