Chicken with cashew nuts and green peppers

If like me you’re a big fan of Chinese food, I think you’ll love this recipe. It’s as tasty as a takeaway dish and although you’ll have to prep it and wash up the wok, it will be worth it. It’s a lot healthier and you can know what you’re putting into the meal, which is great news if you want to be sure you’re avoiding MSGs or any other unknown additives.

What you will need (this will be enough for 3-4 portions):

• 1 pack of chicken breast, 500-600g, chopped into cubes (you can also use chicken thighs if you want a cheaper cut of meat – equally tasty though)
• 150ml of chicken stock (reduced salt if available, for a healthier meal)
• 2 tablespoons of cornflour
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce (again, use low salt if possible, I use reduced salt Amoy soy sauce)
• ½ teaspoon of hot chilli sauce or tabasco
• 2 tablespoons of sesame oil or vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped into large pieces
• 2 green peppers, chopped into large pieces
• 1 tin water chestnuts, drained and sliced (usually around 220-225g, I use Kingfisher sliced water chestnuts as this saves a huge amount of time!)
• 100g cashew nuts, ideally unsalted – available from Waitrose Love Life range and health food shops

What to do:

1. Add the soy sauce and chilli sauce or tabasco to your stock, then stir in the cornflour until it has all dissolved. Your stock should now be nice and thick.
2. Heat half of the sesame or vegetable oil in a wok (if you don’t have one a large frying pan will be fine). Stir in the chicken and cook until it is no longer pink and is cooked through. Turn off the heat and remove the chicken from the wok, and set it aside.
3. Add the remaining oil to the wok or pan and over a medium heat stir fry the onion, green pepper, cashews and water chestnuts. Cook until everything is nice and hot, and the onions have softened (somewhere between 5-10 minutes).
4. Give you stock a good stir to break up any cornflour that has settled. Pour the sauce into the wok or pan, over your veggies, and bring to the boil.
5. Add the cooked chicken back into the wok or pan. Keep stirring until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is hot.
6. Serve with rice or noodles. Dig in and enjoy.

A handy tip! I use frozen rice which I get from either Waitrose or Tesco (I’m sure other supermarkets will sell this as well). It’s more expensive than bags of rice you cook from scratch, but it is so convenient. Also if you’re like me it means no more soaking pans to get stuck-on rice off 🙂

If you’re looking for other inspiring ways to cook chicken, this harissa chicken recipe is full of flavour.