beeniebeans

My mom gave me her Chinese cookbook, Pei Mei’s Chinese Cook Book Volume I, which apparently is the secret behind her fabulous cooking, along with my po po (grandma) and uncle. This book is old school and has my mom’s handwritten notes in Chinese all over it. My mom took cooking classes from Pei Mei, apparently one of the most famous Chinese cookbook authors - the Julia Child of Chinese cooking, in Taiwan before she came to America. I’m so fortunate she gave it to me! The recipes are super, super simple and taste fresh, flavorful, and authentic.

Cashew Nut Chicken

1 lb of diced chicken breast

1 egg white (to marinate the chicken)

Vinegar (just enough to coat and marinate the chicken)

1 TB soysauce (to marinate the chicken)

15 quarter sized thin slices of fresh ginger

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, choped

1 medium sized red chili pepper

2/3 cups of roasted walnuts or cashews

Sauce:

2 T soysauce

1 T wine

1 tsp cornstarch (I just put in flour because I didn’t have this ingredient)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 c. oil (I used much less oil than this and just poured however much I felt was necessary)

1. Put the diced chicken in a bowl with the vinegar, 1 T of soysauce, and egg white. Mix to cover chicken. Let sit for 20 minutes while you chop up the rest of the vegetables.

2. Chop up the onion, red and green bell peppers, ginger, and chili pepper.

3. Prepare the sauce in a separate bowl.

4. Stir fry the chicken in enough oil that it does not stick to the bottom. Don’t overcook. Remove from pan and drain oil.

5. Put in 2 more TB of oil and stir fry the ginger for a few seconds. Add the veggies into the pan and stir fry. 

6. Once the veggies have seared, add the chicken back in and dump all the sauce on top. Stir until thickened. Toss the cashews in.

7. Serve on white rice. Yum!