I'm sorry if I've been a bit quiet of late. And I know what you might be thinking - it seems like it has been a long time coming and it has!

BBC Food - Recipes - Chicken and cashew nut stir-fry

Unfortunately my book won't come out in April as there was a delay internally at Penguin so I'm now frantically editing it and then we will get a new publishing date.

I'm so sorry to the people that pre ordered it for the April release date but I promise you as soon as we get the release date once it goes to "pages" then I will pass it on. I just want it to come out! I can't say that I'm particularly good with long spells editing and staring at pages of text. One day, after five solid hours of editing I left the house. The trees looked unfamiliar and it was all I could do, not to high tail it back to the comfort of home and sit in front of my glowing computer monitor bug eyed, watching the black words dance across the white screen.

Another day I did a few hours of editing and perhaps it was too much when combined with being ill. I even started to feel a bit tipsy.

I rang Mr NQN at work. He sits in an open plan office and he is always very serious on the phone. No matter how I begged, he wouldn't meow like a cat.

He's soberingly adult that way. To give myself a break and to make my way back into the world of the sober I thought I would prepare dinner a bit earlier. It was an easy dish and one that I have made a few times.

The key to a stir fry, and indeed much of Asian food is to have all of the ingredients ready before you begin i.

Stir fries are fast and cooked on high heat ideally in a wok which gives even heat on all sides and the food is moved around quickly around the wok to cook it quickly and seal in the flavour. So there is no time to chop or prepare while furiously frying so you're best to do it all beforehand. This is one of Mr NQN's favourite dishes which are fabulously easy and he says is like what you could get in a Thai restaurant.

He is perhaps being polite but everyone that I've served this to has eaten up every single piece and there is never any leftovers.

Authentic Thai Cashew Chicken Recipe - ucujaluxu.web.fc2.com

Even better is when I serve it with coconut rice, which is very easy and just requires coconut cream and desiccated coconut mixed in with rice instead of water. So tell me Dear Reader, are you good at concentrating on things for periods of time or do you like variety in your tasks?

And would you consider yourself patient or impatient?

Kecap manis or Indonesian sweet soy sauce can be found in the Asian section of supermarkets. It is a thick, viscous version of soy sauce. You can find it at Asian grocery stores and greengrocers.

Step 1 - Firstly, if you are making the coconut rice to go with this dish, start that before the stir fry as it takes up to 30 minutes see recipe below. For the stir fry, make the sauce at the beginning as you want the palm sugar to dissolve as much as possible.

Thai Stir Fried Chicken With Cashew Nuts Recipe

Mix the sweet soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce and palm sugar in a small bowl. Stir to combine and set aside. Step 2 - Like most Asian food, once you have everything sliced up and ready to cook your mise en place everything is a breeze.

The key to a wok is to have it on a high heat and keep the ingredients moving in the pan so having everything prepared beforehand in important as you'll be busy frying things. Heat a wok onto high heat and add tablespoons of oil. Fry the eschallots, garlic, green onions and chilli for minutes until the eschallots soften.

Remove from wok and place in a large bowl or container. Step 3 - Add another tablespoon of oil and then, in two batches, fry the chicken until browned on the outside. Remove from wok and place in the bowl with the onions, garlic and chilli.

Then add the chicken and onion mix back into the frypan along with the Thai basil. Drizzle over the sauce and keep frying until chicken is cooked through. Serve with coconut rice.

Thai Chicken with Cashews - The Wanderlust Kitchen

Step 4 - Wash and drain the rice well. I find I get the best results with stovetop rice is when I do it low and slow and keep the lid on and just give it time to evaporate the water away. The rice will have tiny flecks of lightly toasted coconut which go beautifully with the stir fry. Follow Not Quite Nigella on Email , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest , YouTube and Facebook. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email. Get Free Updates Every morning I send my friends the latest restaurant , recipe or travel story from my blog.

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