Cashew Chicken with Quinoa

Well, apparently growing older, or maybe living in a new country does affect your tastes... A few years ago, or even last week I would have told you that I hate cashews, and I probably wouldn't have bothered cooking it. I didn't, until today, either.  What changed?  Well I went over to a friend's house and she'd made a salad for lunch - it had cashews in it.  I figured I'd just eat around them but I guess one was hiding under a piece of lettuce or something and so it ended up on my fork.  What do you do then? Just eat it :-)  To my surprise, it tasted just like a peanut (which I do like), so I happily ate the rest of my salad, cashews and all.  This led me to this recipe. My husband requested some more Asian dishes, and my mom has made this before.

What you need:

1 package (450g) of Pouletbrust Geschnetzelts (pre-cut chicken)
500g Kefen (snow peas)
500g Champignon (mushrooms)
1 Zwiebeln Bund (1 bunch spring onions - usually 3 to a bunch)
1 can Bambussprossen (Bamboo Shoots)
250ml Huhnbouillon (chicken bouillon)
1/4 cup sojasauce (soy sauce)
2 tbls corn starch
1/2  tsp zucker (sugar) and salz (salt)
1/4 c sonnenblumenol
1 package cashews

Slice the mushrooms, bamboo shoots,and remove ends from snow peas. If you bought whole pieces of chicken, slice those also.
Using only the green part of the onions, slice them into 1 inch pieces and then slice the ends to make a fan.
Slice the white part of the onion into 1/4 inch pieces

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar and salt.

Using 1 tbls of oil, heat over medium and lightly toast the cashews, about 1 minute, and set aside.
Add remaining oil and then add the chicken, cook about 2-5 minutes, until done. Add snow peas, mushrooms, and broth. Cover and simmer for 2 minutes.  
Add the bamboo shoots and stir in the soy sauce mixture. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly and then simmer for 1 minute uncovered.
Mix in the spring onions and top with the toasted cashews.

I am serving it with Quinoa:
Directions, or from the back of the package from Coop (translated)

Bring 7.5dl of water with 300g of quinoa to a boil. Add 1 tsp of salt. Turn down to low heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the quinoa has absorbed all the water.

I used a measuring cup to scoop the quinoa on to the plate (think mountain) and then spooned the cashew chicken on top of it.

Conclusions: It was good - but next time I think I will add either cabbage or bok choy (Asia Store). The Cashews had a touch of paprika on them and they were very good.

8.5/10