Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

Me n DH have been traveling and I haven’t had a chance to post, but this is a post I’ve wanted to put up since before Passover. Why, you may reasonably ask? Because I developed it with Passover in mind initially, with it able to be switched to regular cookery in a snap. I chose to replace a soy sauce base here as well and lemme tell you, it works beautifully. I served this on Passover to my best tasters, my kids and grandkids, and a critic I especially respect since he’s a gourmet, my SIL Yechiel, and it was a huge hit. I’ve since made it a number of times, switching out the potato starch for cornstarch and truthfully, there isn’t much of a difference in the texture, in a good way. So know that this is both gluten free and Passover positive, what could be bad?

So line up your ingredients

Now mix up your sauce ingredients, the water, onion soup powder, balsamic vinegar, silan, ginger (fresh or powdered as you like) garlic, ketchup, sweet chili sauce, brown sugar and salt and just stir, stir, stir till smooth. Set aside.

and stir

Now take your chicken breasts and cut into 1 inch pieces (more or less equally so they cook at the same speed, but don’t stress about the exact size).

Take a ziploc bag and place cornstarch (or potato starch for Passover) into bag. Add the black pepper and sweet paprika. Close bag and shake gently to mix. Open bag and put the cut up chicken inside, zip shut and shake it all around till all the pieces of chicken are coated.

Now we take a skillet and briefly saute the chicken pieces in oil on both sides, like so

Don’t worry if they don’t get really browned. That’s in part why you add the paprika to the coating mixture, to give it color. The point of this sauteeing process is to get a nice crispy exterior on the chicken. This prevents the final result of the chicken being like boiled chicken in the sauce, it locks the juiciness in with the coating. So cook on a medium hot flame in oil about 2-3 minutes or till it’s a bit colored and the coating crisps up a bit and flip and cook the same amount of time on the other side. You are not finishing the cooking of the chicken, just giving it a crisping.

It’s fine if it’s a bit pale faced, it will get covered with sauce, remember this is more for the crispy outer shell. Now place the chicken bites into a crockpot liner bag.

K. Remember the sauce that’s waiting oh so patiently? Now’s the time. Pour it right over the chicken. Btw, a note. Always let the cooking bag “swim” in a few cups of water beneath the bag it so it doesn’t get stuck to the crock. Just sayin’. To clarify, I mean to put water in the ceramic bowl not in the heating element area. Then put the cooking bag gently into the water on top to float.

Toss the chicken in the sauce till coated.

Now cover the crock tightly and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours. The sauce thickens and the chicken starts smelling so wonderful that you can scarcely stand it.

Serve generously with hot cooked rice and top with crispy chinese noodles and roasted cashews. Delightful.

Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

Sauce:

2 cups water
2 tablespoon onion soup powder
6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons date syrup or Silan
2 flat teaspoon ginger- fresh or powdered
2 cloves garlic crushed or 4 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 cup ketchup
4 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt

2 kilo (4.4 pounds) skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces

6-8 Tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

2-3 tablespoons canola oil

To serve:

1 1/2 cups roasted cashews
Crispy Chinese noodles

Directions:

For sauce, combine water, onion soup powder, balsamic vinegar, silan (date syrup), ginger (fresh or powdered as you like) garlic, ketchup, sweet chili sauce, brown sugar and salt in medium bowl.  Set aside.

Combine cornstarch/potato starch, paprika and pepper in ziploc bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with cornstarch mixture.
Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Don’t worry if it doesn’t brown much, more likely to be light in color. You are going for the crispy outer texture for the chicken. Additionally, you are specifically not fully cooking the chicken, that takes place in the crockpot so don’t overdo the sauteeing. Place chicken in slow cooker.
 
Cook on low for 2 1/2 hours. Check to make sure it’s fully done but don’t overcook. Serve over rice and on Passover I serve it over mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with roasted cashews and crispy Chinese noodles (they have them kosher for Passover).