Chicken With Cashew Nuts and Basil

There are many variations on the basic South East Asian theme and this one adds a slight twist to a Chinese takeaway style dish. This will serve two people easily or add more rice and extra dishes for a bigger table.

2 medium sized fresh chicken breasts
I medium onion
1 green pepper (not hot)
3 cloves garlic
Fresh ginger – a piece about half the size of wine bottle cork
Soy sauce
Sweet chilli sauce
1/2 dozen fresh large fresh basil leaves or a 3/4 level teaspoon of dried basil.
1/2 vegetable stock cube
Generous handful of raw, unsalted cashews

First cut up the vegetables – cut the onion in four and separate the layers, dice the green pepper and chop garlic and ginger.

Cut the chicken into small pieces and stir fry in a wok using a little olive or sunflower seed oil. Do not overcook, but make sure there is no pink meat at the centre of the cubes as I have no wish to see anyone with food poisoning…

Once the chicken is very nearly cooked add the green pepper, onion, garlic and ginger to the cooking chicken and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add a desert spoon of soy and a similar amount of sweet chilli sauce = and the basil IF using the dried variety. Crumble the 1/2 stock cube into the mix (a whole one will make it too salty)stir and add water to taste – to create a good tasting broth without diluting the flavour too much.

Finally add the cashew nuts and the whole basil leaves and turn for half a minute so as the nuts warm through – personally I do not like them to cook for too long as they loose their crunch. Serve immediately.

For a version that’s more Chinese and less Thai, replace the sweet chilli sauce with a good pinch of sugar and omit the basil.