Chicken with Cashew Curried Stir Fry

This is wok-fast Thai cooking, the kind of stir fry that takes longer to read than to cook. Red curry paste and Thai chili paste do the seasoning work in one pan, fish sauce brings the umami, and roasted cashews get added off-heat so they stay crunchy.

The wok needs to be smoking hot before the oil goes in. This is non-negotiable. A cool wok produces steamed, gray chicken instead of the seared, caramelized bites that define proper stir fry. Heat the dry wok for two full minutes, then add oil and swirl.

Bloom the curry paste and chili paste in the hot garlic oil for 30 seconds before adding chicken. This wakes up the spices and infuses the oil with flavor, distributing it through the dish. Skip this and the pastes taste raw and harsh.

Slice the chicken thin and uniform. Bite-sized pieces against the grain cook in two minutes flat at high heat. Larger chunks stay raw in the center while the outsides scorch.

The cashews go in off the heat at the end. Tossing them in while the pan is hot makes them go soft and lose the snap that’s the whole point of putting them in this dish.

Pro Tips

• Use chicken thighs instead of breasts for more forgiving cooking and richer flavor.
• Have all ingredients prepped in bowls before turning on the heat. The cook is too fast to chop on the fly.
• Add a splash of water if the wok starts to dry out before the chicken is done.
• Serve over jasmine rice with a wedge of lime.

Variations

• Stir in a handful of snow peas or sliced bell pepper at the end for crunch.
• Add a teaspoon of brown sugar with the fish sauce to balance the heat with sweetness.
• Swap chicken for shrimp and reduce cook time to 2 minutes total.