Cashew Chicken

4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds total), cut into 1-inch cubes
Peanut oil (about 3/4 cup, can substitute other vegetable oil)
Chili Powder (about 3 Tbsp)
Tamari (about 1/2 cup) (if you don't have access to tamari you can substitute soy sauce, use Wheat-free tamari or soy sauce if you need to cook gluten-free)
Honey (about 1/2 cup)
2 cups raw cashews
Salt
3 cups roughly chopped onions (about 2 medium large onions)
3 cups roughly chopped mushrooms

Optional

1-2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup chopped green onion greens


1 Marinate the chicken. Place the cubed chicken in a medium bowl. Add the oil. Add the tamari until the marinade turns dark brown (about 2 Tbsp per breast). Sprinkle the chili powder over the chicken pieces while stirring, so that each piece of chicken gets well coated with the chili powder and marinade. Stir in the honey, about 2 tablespoons for each breast. Add chopped ginger if using. Marinate for 1/2 hour to several hours, the longer the better.

2 Place cashews in a saucepan, cover with water, add a teaspoon of salt. Bring the water to a boil and simmer until the cashews are soft, a couple of minutes (the water will get foamy). Remove from the heat, strain and set aside.

3 Heat a large skillet on medium high heat. Working in batches if needed so you don't crowd the pan, use tongs to remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and place them in the pan, reserving the extra marinade. Sauté the chicken pieces until just cooked through, remove from the pan and set aside. Place any extra marinade back in the pan and simmer for several minutes (to kill any bacteria). Pour off all but 1 Tbsp of the marinade into a separate bowl and reserve.

4 In the same pan, sauté the onions on medium high to high heat for several minutes. Add mushrooms and continue to sauté until onions are translucent and mushrooms are cooked, several minutes more. Add some reserved marinade to the pan if necessary.

5 Combine chicken, mushrooms, onions, with the cashews. Stir in onion greens (if using) right before serving. Serve over rice.

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