People do interesting things with food beyond just eating for sustenance. I was cruising the web the other day and found a top 10 list for ridiculous food challenges you should never try. Here are a few highlights:
- Habanero challenge – As you might expect it is eating as many hot peppers as you can within a time limit. I have burned out my taste buds on occasion but not sure I could finish this one.
- Pickle challenge – Eat a whole jar of pickles (not bad) and drink the juice (ewwww, but I think doable).
- Saltine challenge – Eat six saltines in a minute. This sounds easy but the dryness makes it very difficult.
- Cinnamon challenge – Eat a tablespoon of cinnamon. This one is very dangerous as the cinnamon ends up being inhaled into the lungs and burns.
Take a look at the article here.
This is an easy and flavorful dish.
I cut up the chicken while it was still a little frozen. It is much easier the get uniform sized pieces this way.
Everything in the wok. Using my Littledeer utensils.
A mouth full of flavor.
Spicy Cashew Chicken
Ingredients:
- 4 chicken breast halves, diced
- 1 tablespoon sherry
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- ¼ cup oil
- 1/2-1 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- 3 green onions, sliced diagonally
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup cashews, unsalted
- toasted sesame seeds
- Sauce
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 4 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp white vinegar
Directions:
Combine 1 tablespoon soy sauce with the cooking sherry* in medium sized bowl. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, put chicken pieces in soy/sherry mixture. Let sit while you prepare the other ingredients.
In a small bowl, whisk 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch, 4 tsp sugar, and 2 tsp vinegar. Set aside. Slice the green onions, and measure out the red pepper flakes and minced garlic.
Drain chicken in strainer to get the marinade off as much a possible. Heat oil in a wok over high heat.  Add red pepper flakes to oil,stir a couple times. Add chicken all at once, let sit for a minute or two till golden,then turn chicken. Add garlic to chicken. Cook chicken till golden on all sides and cooked through.
Add cashews.
Move wok off hot stove and immediately pour in sauce while constantly turning chicken over to cover everything in sauce. Sauce should thicken quite a bit, if you want it thicker put it back on medium heat for about 5-10 seconds, and stir. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds and add sliced green onions. Serve over rice.
Rantings of an Amateur Chef 
Your additions of chilli flakes and sesame seeds have taken chicken and cashew nuts to another level! This is inspired and I can’t wait to try it 🙂
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Must try the cashew chicken…bok bok!
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I’m making this – ummm
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I don’t like too spicy but this look very appealing…
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Following up – I made this dish last night. It came together just as you described and – it was a hit.
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This seems like a really quick, easy-to-do recipe, ideal for a lazy person like me. 🙂 I’m planning to make it this Sunday but would like to know if I could use something in place of cooking sherry. could you suggest a substitute?
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The most direct substitute would be a dry white wine, vermouth or cognac. For a non-alcohol version you could try a little apple cider (less sweet than juice) or a little vanilla (about 1/3 the quantity of the sherry).
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