Creamy Cashew Chicken Curry – Moooove Over Real Cream

This creamy cashew chicken recipe is completely dairy-free (expect for the butter), but that’s not why you should make it. You should make this simple curry because it’s so rich and satisfying that you won’t even care that it’s better for you, and possibly the cows.

It really is pretty remarkable how similar the cashew cream is to regular heavy cream in appearance, taste, and in-sauce behavior. In fact, cashew cream actually thickens up faster than cream, which usually has to be reduced a bit before it will coat the meat.

As far as the rest of the ingredients go, there’s nothing too exotic, except maybe for the garam masala, which in case you’re wondering, translates to “hot spice.” There are many variations, but if you can’t find one, the most common ingredients are cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, mace, dried chilies, sesame seeds, mustard seeds, bay leaves, and turmeric; just in case you want to whip up a batch of your own.

Speaking of spices, how much you should use in this is a very personal thing. Below you’ll see what I went with, which I thought was on the fairly mild side, so feel free to add more. Also, the salt in our dry marinade does a pretty good job of seasoning the chicken, but you’ll probably need more as it cooks in the sauce, so be sure to check. Of course, the hardest thing about this recipe is deciding whether to serve it with rice, garlic naan, or both, but I'm sure you'll figure that out when you give this a try, which will hopefully be very soon. Enjoy! 

Ingredients for 4 large portions Creamy Cashew Chicken:

For the Spice Mix:

(use a little more than half to marinade the chicken, and the rest to add to the sauce)

2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste

1 1/2  teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

2 teaspoons paprika (hot and/or smoked would also work well)

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

2 generous teaspoons garam masala, or other prepared “curry powder” blends

For the Cashew Cream:

3/4 cup whole roasted cashews

2 cups cold water

For the rest:

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (mixed with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and spice blend, and marinated for 4 to 12 hours)

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 yellow onion, chopped or sliced

rest of the reserved spice blend

2 tablespoons tomato paste

4 finely minced garlic cloves

1 tablespoon finely minced ginger

1 cup chicken broth

all the prepared cashew cream

1/3 cup sliced green onions

1/3 cup freshly chopped cilantro

freshly squeezed juice of one lime, plus extra wedges for service

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Corned Beef & Kimchi Fried Rice – Just Like Your Irish-American-Korean Grandmother Used to Make

After too many requests to count, I’m finally posting my recipe for kimchi fried rice, and by “my recipe,” I mean everyone’s recipe, since give or take a handful of meat, they’re all pretty much the same. 

Having said that, I’ll give a shout out to the lovely and talented, Maanchi, since I checked her channel to make sure I wasn’t missing any key elements, as well as learn how to say, “gochujang.”

I’m not sure how close I got to the later, but except for the seaweed, I did get all the ingredients right. Of course, the diced corned beef is optional, but if you do have some leftover from your St. Patrick’s Day, I highly recommend you give it a try. Bacon is another fine choice, as is almost any other diced meat I can think of.

The egg is also technically optional, but not for me. The way the runny yolk mixes into, and moistens the rice takes this to a whole other level. The poached egg also paired quite nicely with my “landweed” garnish, as it does with the much more traditional shredded seaweed. But, no matter how you accessorize, I really hope you give this corned beef and kimchi fried rice a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 2 large portions:

1 generous cup chopped drained kimchi

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups diced corned beef or other meat

3 generous cooked rice, (I find cold works best for crustification)

1/4 cup kimchi juice

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons gochujang chili paste

1/2 cup sliced green onion

2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

2 teaspoons sesame oil, or to taste

2 poached or fried eggs

shredded seaweed to garnish, optional