Chinese Food Culture

September 1st, 2010 | 30-Minute Meals Recipes, Thai recipes | 3 Comments

I love Thai food. Come to think about it, a lot of Thai recipes that I like are basically Chinese in origin, with local influences, which add an exciting layer of taste structure to the originals. There are many examples: Rad Na, Pad See Ew, and in this case, chicken with cashew nuts. In Chinese cuisine, these dishes are prepared the Chinese way, but the Thai versions are flavored with fish sauce or other local seasoning sauces, spices (yes!), and slightly varied ingredients. The end results are always delicious, sometimes more so than the Chinese equivalents. I always appreciate the local touch, which make good recipes even better…

This Spicy Chicken with Cashew Nuts is adapted from my favorite Thai cookbook “Thai Cooking Made Easy.” This variation of cashew chicken is also popular in Malaysia. In fact, it’s one of my favorite chicken dishes whenever I eat out at local hot stir-fries stalls. To me, it’s the local interpretation of Chinese cashew chicken and Kung Pao Chicken.

If you love cashew nuts and like your chicken spicy, this is a great Recipe to try out.

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This could be the last of my Chinese/Lunar New Calendar year series. To end it on a healthy note, I have invited my excellent friend Tigerfish at Teczcape to share a vegetarian dish—stir-fried pine nuts with corn and peas, 金玉满堂, or literally indicates â€�full of gold and jade.” Tigerfish is a single from the very 1st friends I created via blogging and we even met up a person time! She is really a truly sweet individual and Teczcape is her cooking journal of everyday recipes. Please welcome Teczcape to Rasa Malaysia.

For those who celebrate Chinese/Lunar New Calendar year, Happy Tiger Calendar year, Gong Xi Fa Cai (æ�����发财). To have far more Chinese recipes and ideas, please take a look at the complete list of my Chinese recipes index and this Chinese New 12 months Recipes post from last twelve months. You may also want to have a look at Steamy Kitchen.

1 from the great Chinese physicians—Li ShiZhen (李时珍) rates highly on pine nuts for medicinal advantage. Not only they reinforce the brain functions and delay the aging procedure, pine nuts contain vital vitamins and minerals just like thiamine, vitamin B1 and protein; and nourish/balance the necessary bodily functions. With the nutritional gain, I think about it a healing food, being rather neutral and neither too “heaty” or “coolingâ��. Indeed, this will be a great addition to balance an otherwise “meaty” (大鱼大肉) feast you will probably be having this Lunar New Yr. Yes, it can be also completely vegetarian. Vegetarians are in for a delectable treat…

The natural sweetness of sweet peas and corn kernels complements very well with the slight bittersweet in pine nuts and a little spice from the ginger slices. The array of flavors is enormous even though the ingredients are all “small” in size. I love the tender crisp textures inside the dish as well. This Stir-Fry Pine Nuts, Corn and Sweet Peas (清炒松子玉米甜豆) of yellow-golden (pine nuts and corn) and jade-green (sweet peas) symbolizes 金玉满堂: that prosperity and fortune (金, jin:gold and ��, yu:jade) fills your whole household and dwelling.

Personally, I like this recipe extremely significantly since there isn’t a great deal preparation required (rinsing and cutting of vegetable is reduced to a minimal!), it can be simple to cook (no kidding, appear at the Recipe below) and taste superbly excellent! If you are preparing at least a four to five–course dinner at household to celebrate Chinese New Year and challenged by the amount of time you’ve, this dish is going to make your day… extra sweet (no pun intended).