One of my favourite Thai dishes is stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts. In Thai it is called “gai pat met mamuang himmapaan” which is a bit of a mouthful. There seems to be quite a few different recipes as this dish looks different at every restaurant that I go to. Like all the Thai dishes I have been showing you, it is worth experimenting with not only different amounts of ingredients, but also different ingredients altogether. The ingredients we used today can be seen in the picture below. Starting at the top, these are chopped onion, chicken, chopped garlic, crisp-fried spur chili, chopped spring onion, chili jam (nam prik pao) and cashew nuts in the center.
First fry the garlic until golden brown and fragant. I usually do this starting from a cold wok. If it is already hot then it will burn quickly if you don’t pay attention. Add the chicken and cook until nearly done. Then add the chilli paste (nam prik pao). Not everyone add this soit is up to you. After a good stir, next comes the onion, cashew nuts, fried dried chilies and spring onion. Give it a good stir. Season it with light and dark soy sauce. The light sauce is used instead of fish sauce which is smellier. The dark soy sauce sweetens the dish a little so no need to add any sugar. I prefer not to have too much dark soy sauce. It is now ready. Garnish with sliced red spur chili and fresh coriander. You will find that the red spur chili is not as hot as the smaller type.
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