Spicy Cashew Chicken

Happy Chinese New Year!  To celebrate, last night my mom and I made some homemade Chinese food.  One of my favorite dishes to order at The Cheesecake Factory is their Spicy Cashew Chicken, so we decided to try to copy it at home.  We used the recipe from Dinner Then Dessert with a couple of modifications.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-size chunks
• 1/3 cup peanut oil
• 8 oz. chopped cashews
• 6 green onions, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 2 tsp. sesame seeds
• Cooked rice
• Seasoned Rice Flour
• 3/4 cup rice flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. paprika
• 1/8 tsp. baking powder
• Rice Flour Batter
• 1 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cup ice water
• Spicy Soy Sherry Sauce
• 1 cup Hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sherry
• 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp. Sriracha sauce
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 tbsp. fresh ginger

Yield: 4 servings

To make the seasoned rice flour, mix the ingredients together in a bowl.

To make the rice flour batter, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl over ice.  Keep cold.  We placed the bowl with the batter mix inside a bowl with ice cubes to keep it cool.

To make the spicy soy sherry sauce, mix all the ingredients together.  We added some ginger to the recipe we found online - it gave the sauce a little bit more of a kick.

Next, toss the chicken pieces with the seasoned rice flour.  Then place the chicken in a bowl with the batter and combine until the chicken is well-coated.

Next, heat the peanut oil in a large pan on medium high heat.  Then add the chicken pieces and cook until the chicken is browned and crispy (about 3 minutes on each side).  Remove the chicken and place it on a paper towel to drain.  We had to do this twice in order to cook all the chicken.  Be sure to break apart any of the chicken pieces that stuck together.

 

Next, add the cashews and sauce to the pan.  Then add in the green onions, sesame seeds, and the chicken.  Toss all the ingredients together until well-coated and let cook for about 30 seconds in order for the sauce to thicken.

Serve over rice.

 Everybody really enjoyed this recipe and it was a fun way to celebrate the Year of the Rooster.

Gung hey fat choy!

And yes, I even dressed up my dog to celebrate.

Have you ever tried any copycat restaurant recipes?  Let me know!