Cajun Cashew Chicken

Y'all....I invented something.  I know so many of the things I cook are just recipes from a cookbook or Pinterest...but I actually had an ORIGINAL thought.  Trust me--I checked the internet.

I was laying in bed, having trouble falling asleep because I drank caffeine too close to bedtime.  And somewhere, somehow, a lateral train of thought took me to "I wonder if I could make a Cajun version of cashew chicken?"

If'n you're not from Missouri...specifically Springfield, Missouri... y'all.  Springfield, Missouri is famous for exactly two things.
1) It's where the original Bass Pro Shops is located and headquartered, and 
2) It's where "Springfield-style" cashew chicken was invented.

In 1963, David Leong created this dish for a supper club, and the entire city went bonkers.  His family's restaurant is still famous for it, and there isn't a single Asian restaurant in town that doesn't have a version of cashew chicken on their menu---even some non-Asian restaurants, as evidenced by the cashew chicken poutine served by Lindberg's Tavern.

So...what is it?  Well, it's awesome.  Tasty little deep fried morsels of chicken, served with either a light brown garlic sauce or a darker, thicker brown gravy made with chicken stock, oyster sauce and soy....and then topped with cashews.  It's basically fried chicken & brown gravy, served with rice (usually fried rice).

So somewhere in the lateral processes of my brain, something clicked:  how is cashew chicken all that different from all the rice & gravy dishes in Louisiana?  Can I make something that honors both the original dish, and a Cajun dish, while still tasting amazing?  

...well...why not?  After all--it's the experimental dishes that are the most fun to make:  like Primo's crawchos and red beans & fries, and the bacon-wrapped boudin jalapeno poppers.

So--this dish has four components:
1) Fried chicken - the secret to great Springfield style chicken is the fry batter, which uses cornstarch, so we're not going to mess with that.  But...what if we brine our chicken with a crab boil mixture first?
2) Brown gravy - Anyone who's followed this blog for a while knows my love of Tony Chacheres's brown gravy & instant roux mix.  While I catch a lot of flack for using this shortcut instead of making my roux's from scratch, you just can't deny the fact that this stuff makes a great quick gravy.  So...let's use that as a base, and then tinker a bit to bring in some of the traditional cashew sauce elements.
3) Rice - white rice just seemed too vanilla for this adventure. So what's the closest thing Cajun country has to fried rice?  Why...that's dirty rice, son.
4) Cashews - because it's freakin' cashew chicken.  

So...how did it go?  Well, my first attempt was a little salt heavy.  The chicken was great, but rice and the gravy both came out with too much salt, which really took away from my enjoyment of my new invention.  And I was testing out a new recipe for the dirty rice, using my Instant Pot instead of something tried and true--so the rice was on the mushy side, rather than more like a "pilaf" like dirty rice should be.  Also...I completely forgot to buy cashews and green onions, so my topping game was not on point. I wanted to make Tabasco-spiced cashews using their Chipotle sauce.  So instead we had dried green onions and some spicy peanuts. *shrugs*

I think it requires a do-over.  Next time, I'll thin the sauce out more and lower the salt, and then use a dirty rice recipe that I know works.  Oh--and make sure I have cashews and green onions.

Ingredients: (makes 4-6 servings)
2 large chicken breasts, cubed into bite size pieces
Brine for Chicken
4 cups water
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup crab boil seasoning (I used dry--you could use the liquid instead, but will likely need to add more salt)
1 Tbsp cajun seasoning
1/4 cup Steen's cane syrup
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Batter for Chicken
DRY: 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 Tbsp cornstarch
WET: 2-3 eggs, whisked

Gravy
4 Tbsp Tony Chacheres instant brown gravy mix
2 cup water
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
additional water as needed to thin gravy to desired consistency

Dirty Rice (link to recipe here)

Cashews & Green Onions, for serving

Directions:
First--brine the chicken at least 24 hours in advance. I chunked up the chicken pieces first to increase surface area, since there's a lot of debate as to how much aromatics and flavoring components really penetrate when brining/marinating.  I put all the brine ingredients in a gallon ziploc, and then added the chicken, and placed it in the fridge (inside a large bowl, in case of leakage) overnight.

Then, the immortal words of PooPoo Broussard: "cook sum rice". (NOTE: I think leftover dirty rice tastes better than "fresh", so feel free to make this the night before.) I decided to make this in the Instant Pot because...well...I own an Instant Pot. (I also made it with brown rice, because that's what we had on hand.)  Next time, I'll probably try something different, like my usual range-top recipe (linking to save space in this post).

Now, start the gravy--you can get this simmering in the background while you focus on frying the chicken.  We happened to have some brown gravy in the fridge from a meal earlier in the week, so I re-heated that, and then added the oyster sauce, low-sodium soy sauce, sesame oil, and then about 1/4 cup of water.  This resulted in a thick, tasty, but salty gravy--so if I had a do over I would have added more water to thin it out.  The flavor (aside from the salt) was very good.  Once your gravy is done, set it aside on Low, just to keep it warm--don't let it keep reducing or you'll end up with the salt issue, too.

When you're ready to cook the chicken:
1) heat up about 2-3 inches of peanut oil in a high-sided pot.  Have a splatter guard handy.  You want to make sure your oil is good and hot to fry the chicken--otherwise it's going to soak up a lot of the oil and be greasy and not as good, but not so hot as to scorch the coating. 365*F is a good target temp.
2) Drain the brine by pouring the chicken into a colander and letting the excess drain off.
3) Dip in the chicken in the flour mixture first, then the egg, then back in the flour.  Stage finished chicken on a cookie sheet until you're done with all of them.

4) Drop into the hot oil, and let fry for about 3-4 minutes.  Use a spoon or chopstick to flip the pieces about halfway through.
5) When golden brown, pull the chicken out and let it drain on paper towels or an elevated rack.

Serve up a scoop of the dirty rice, pile some chicken next to it, then add gravy, and top with the cashews and some sliced green onions.

Note: If you've never had original Springfield-style and want to try David Leong's original cashew chicken, here is his recipe.  

Shrimp & Andouille Jambalaya Risotto

A couple years ago I posted about a really delicious gumbo risotto recipe that I tested out & fell in love with.  This time, I decided to try it with jambalaya instead.  I prefer a "cajun-style" jambalaya (read: no tomatoes) that gets most of its flavor from the roux and the meat--however, with a risotto, you're typically not making a roux beforehand.  Not to fear--dry roux powder is here!  I love this stuff & use it frequently--it's a pantry staple at our house, even though I have to buy it while I'm down in Louisiana.  If you can find it in your supermarket, I highly recommend picking some up...if you can't put it at the top of your souvenir list next time you're near the Gulf. (Their brown gravy mix is also a staple at our house.)

You could easily make this as a chicken & sausage risotto instead, but I had shrimp onhand so that's what I went with.

SIDENOTE: In retrospect, I'm not sure why I decided to make a risotto, which requires hovering over a pot for about 30-45 minutes, while 39 weeks preggo.  My feet were sore & swollen by the time we were ready to eat.  The next time I make this I will definitely make sure to NOT have a bun in the oven.  Risotto requires some maintenance to make sure it doesn't burn, but the end result is creamy & delicious & totally worth it.  Between the Cajun seasoning & the jalapeno, ours had a perfect amount of heat for my taste, but if you prefer milder flavors, you can omit the jalapeno--or add a second one if you like it super-spicy.

INGREDIENTS: (makes 6-8 servings)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 links of andouille sausage (approx 1/4 lb each), or 4 links of Johnsonville New Orleans Andouille Style smoked sausage (this is what most folks can easily find at their grocers and I think it tastes great--and no, that's not a paid endorsement.)
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded & diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1-2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp dry roux powder
1 Tbsp Cajun seasoning of your choice (you already know my personal favorite)
3 Tbsp butter (we use Smart Balance spread)
2.5 cups arborio rice
30 oz beef stock (or 4 beef bouillon cubes + 32 oz of water)- low sodium if possible
1 cup water, if needed (you can alternately use dry white wine if you like)
2 green onions, sliced, plus 1 more for garnish
1/2 lb medium shrimp, peeled & tails removed
black pepper & parsley, to taste

DIRECTIONS:
In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Once up to temp, add the sausage, vegetables, garlic, roux powder, and cajun seasoning.  Once the veggies begin to soften and caramelize, add the butter and stir until melted.

Lower the heat to medium-low and add the rice, stirring well.  Let the rice "toast" for about 3 minutes while stirring. Now begin adding the beef broth--just enough at a time to keep the consistency somewhat liquid and stirrable.  As the mixture thickens & absorbs the broth, add more.  Stir frequently and repeat the addition of broth to keep it from burning--approximately 1/2 cup at a time.

When you add the last of the broth, also add the 2 green onions and the shrimp, since these require much less time to fully cook.

When you've used up the broth, taste the rice.  If it's still crunchy, you can start adding some of the water and cook a little bit longer.  Risotto should generally be slightly al dente like pasta, but if you overcook it it will get a bit gummy.  However, much like pasta, this should be done to your taste.  Now is also a good time to check for seasoning & see if you need to add pepper, additional cajun seasoning, etc.

Once the rice is done to your taste, it's ready to serve!  Final consistency should hold together when scooped into a bowl and spread out slightly, but not as thick as say, mashed potatoes.  Top with the remaining green onions & serve!

If you have leftovers, this will thicken in the fridge, so you'll want to add a bit of water before reheating so it's not a solid mass.

NutriFacts: (for 6 servings)

• Calories534.0
• Total Fat21.9 g
• Saturated Fat7.0 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat2.1 g
• Monounsaturated Fat3.2 g
• Cholesterol107.0 mg
• Sodium1,653.0 mg
• Potassium151.5 mg
• Total Carbohydrate67.3 g
• Dietary Fiber1.0 g
• Sugars0.7 g
• Protein19.3 g

Gumbo Risotto.

I’m a fan of testing out recipes that are break from the usual.  Hybrid or fusion dishes that put a new spin on old flavors really appeal to me, so when I saw this recipe for a gumbo risotto on Pinterest, I had to try it out.

 

Ingredients:

• ¼ cups olive oil, divided
• 1 cup Okra, frozen Or fresh, sliced
• ½ whole Bell Pepper, chopped
• ½ pounds Raw Shrimp, peeled & tails removed
• ⅓ pounds smoked sausage, sliced into 1/2 pieces & then cut in half
• ½ whole chopped onion
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• ½ teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 cup Arborio Or Risotto Rice (NOTE: my local health food market sells this in a bulk bin, so you can buy only as much as you need—check your market for similar deals!)
• ½ cups white wine Or beer
• 1 Tablespoon Cajun Seasoning
• ½ cups Tomato Sauce Or Puree
• 5 cups Liquid (half Chicken Broth, Half Water To save $$$ And sodium)
• ½ pints Cherry Tomatoes, Quartered, Or 2 Roma Tomatoes, Diced
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• Hot Sauce, Optional
• Salt And Pepper

(Bulk bin rice—great because you can get only what you need & not have yet another random box cluttering your pantry!  And cheaper than buying a full bag of rice too!)

 

Directions:

In a large skillet (or wok) heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat, and then add your okra.  Saute for about 3 minutes—the okra will get a wee bit slimy & you’ll see “strings” as you stir.  When it gets a bit brown, remove from the skillet & set aside in a bowl.  (we do this separately so that it everything else doesn’t get slimy.)

Then add a little more olive oil, if needed, and saute the bell pepper, shrimp, and sausage until the shrimp is pink & the pepper is somewhat softened.  Remove from skillet & set aside in the same bowl. (We have to cook all these pieces first, because the risotto rice takes so long to cook that everything else would be mush if you left it in.)

Now add your onions, crushed red pepper, & garlic & cook for about 3 minutes.  This will be the beginnings of the base for our rice.  When the garlic & onions are soft but not brown, add the dry rice & tomato sauce.  Stir until rice is coated.  Now add your wine or beer & stir until completely absorbed (no worries—the booze will cook out before it’s finished.)

Now would be a good time to tell you:  You’re going to be stirring a LOT.  So you should probably just pull a chair up to your stove.  Risotto rice needs to be stirred pretty well constantly to ensure that it doesn’t burn.  So just grab a book with your free hand & settle in.

(PS—please don’t judge our choice in beer—we went canoeing a couple weekends ago & therefore had “river beer” leftovers in our cooler.)

Using 2/3 cup at a time, start adding the chicken broth / water, alternating between the two.  Stir the rice until all the liquid is absorbed, then add more liquid and repeat. If the pan gets too hot (the liquid boils fully), reduce the heat.

After about 25 minutes, check the rice for doneness.  Continue to add liquid until the rice is tender but not mushy and does not have a crunch or stick to your teeth.

When the rice is cooked through, add the cherry tomatoes, okra, bell pepper, sausage, shrimp, butter and hot sauce. Stir for 2-3 minutes to heat through and taste for seasonings, adding more Cajun seasoning, salt, or hot sauce if you need.

Serve with a bit o’ garnish & a big spoon, and you’re ready to go!

Cook’s Notes: This recipe took a Loooooooong time to make, with all the prep and the separated cooking and the stirring, but I kid you not when I say it’s one of THE tastiest dishes I’ve had in a really long time.  The rice is amazingly creamy and delicious, and captures so many of the flavors of gumbo, with a hint of tomatoey goodness (not an ingredient in standard Cajun gumbo).  If it didn’t take forever to make, this might become a staple recipe in my kitchen.  But I think I’ll just save it for special occasions.

Overall, a great meal—a hearty serving but only 250 calories each!

Nutrifacts: (makes 6 servings)

Calories 251.4

  Total Fat 10.3 g

  Saturated Fat 1.7 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 0.4 g

  Cholesterol 80.8 mg

  Sodium 876.1 mg

  Potassium 381.1 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 19.4 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.8 g

  Sugars 11.6 g

  Protein 17.1 g