Cashew Chicken

We love Chinese food around here so when I saw how easy this recipe was on The Sister's Cafe it just had to be tried! And it turned out deliciously! It isn't tangy like the General Tso's or Sweet & Sour Chickens you would get, but it isn't supposed to be. We will definitely be making this one again.

CASHEW CHICKEN
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2 chicken breasts, cut into pieces
1 tsp sugar
4 Tb cornstarch, divided
½ tsp salt
¼ c. soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 Tb oil
2 c. hot chicken broth
2 tsp lemon juice
½ c. cashews
cooked rice

Combine sugar, 2 Tb cornstarch, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Dredge chicken pieces in this mixture. Drain and save dredge; then stir fry chicken in hot oil in frying pan or wok until chicken is lightly brown and tender, about 10 minutes. Remove chicken from oil and drain excess oil from the pan. Add remaining cornstarch and the dredge drained from the chicken. Blend well, then add chicken stock to the pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened. Add lemon juice; add chicken pieces and reheat. Do not boil. Taste to correct seasonings. Add cashews. Serve over hot rice. Makes 4-5 servings. You can stir fry some vegetables and add them to the mixture at the end.

*COOKING NOTE! I stir fried fresh green beans, broccoli, red onion, and green peppers into ours. I added the broccoli first (to already warm oil) and then the green beans a while longer. Remember that you need to take into consideration how FIRM the veggies you are using are. For example, carrots will need to saute much longer than onions will. You want ALL of your veggies to be crisp-tender in the end so don't add them all at once!

*SHOPPING NOTE! You don't need to spend a fortune to add veggies to your dish. To feed a family you aren't going to need a pound of each veggie. A lot of them are sold in small pieces. I just bought a handful of fresh green beans, the smallest broccoli head I could find, and one green pepper. We buy red onions in bulk from Sam's Club because we use them alot and they are so much cheaper. I only used 1/2 of the green pepper and will get to use the other half for breakfast tomorrow. For all of my veggies I paid about.... $1.50 for this meal. Probably less.

*P.S. I understand it is called "Cashew Chicken" but if you don't want to spend the money on cashews I am sure it would still taste great without them. The cashews just add a satisfying crunch.