My, low sodium, take on Cashew Chicken

If there's one drawback to a low sodium lifestyle, it is the ease at which your normal menu rotation gets boring.  Unsalted mashed potatoes just aren't all that tasty no matter how much butter you put in them!  So, I'm having to branch out of my cooking comfort zone.  In the past, home-cooked Chinese-style food was more likely in the form of a can of La Choy.  At over 1500mg of sodium per cup, that is out the window now.  Yesterday morning I was brainstorming dinner and remembered I had 3/4 of a package of thin sliced chicken breasts in the freezer.  I also had most of a pound bag of roasted, unsalted cashews hanging around.  Hmm, could I create some sort of Cashew Chicken?  I googled some recipes and most of them called for crazy amounts of salt, soy sauce and Hoisin sauce.  I was determined I could manage *something* so I got the chicken out to thaw and headed to work.  

As the day progressed, my plan started firming up.  I have the luxury of working in a grocery store so during a spare moment I stopped by the Asian section.  I found Kikkoman's Stir Fry Sauce which has 190mg of sodium per tablespoon.  Not great, but I could work with that.  Then I walked by an endcap of pineapple.  Things in my brain really started bubbling then.  When I got off I grabbed some pineapple tidbits in juice, the stir fry sauce and a few other necessities and hurried home.  

I knew that anything I came up with would be no closer to authentic Chinese cuisine than a Doritos Locos taco is authentic Mexican cuisine.  But I also knew I'd make it close enough and it would taste good.  

This is what ended up on our plates:

I'm pretty darn pleased with myself, too.  It was tasty, easy and Bill cleaned his plate!  He's a lot less adventurous in his eating than I am so when I create a more "exotic" dish, it can be a bit of a gamble.  This is one gamble that paid off.  Now, for the recipe:

Sweet-n-Sour Cashew Chicken (serves 2 with leftovers)

• 3/4 lb chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
• 8oz canned pineapple tidbits in juice
• 1/2 bag frozen baby blend veggies (or whatever blend suits your fancy)
• 1/2 cup unsalted, roasted cashews
• 1/8tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp powdered ginger
• 1/8 tsp white pepper
• 1 T brown sugar (optional)
• 2 T Kikkoman Stir Fry Sauce
• 1 heaping T corn starch mixed with 1/4 cup cold water
• olive oil 

Mix the seasonings except the stir fry sauce in a small bowl.  Use part of them to season the chicken breast chunks.  Heat olive oil in a fry pan and quickly brown the chicken.  While the chicken is browning, thaw/heat the veggies in the microwave a bit.  Once the chicken is mostly done, add in the stir fry sauce and stir it around so all the chicken gets coated.  Let that cook for just a minute or so then add the can of tidbits including the juice and the rest of the seasonings.  Once things have come back up to a simmer, add in your veggies and cook until the veggies are done.  Taste your sauce and add more seasonings if needed.   I wanted mine a little sweeter so at this point I added 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.  Turn the heat off and stir in the cornstarch mixture.  Return the heat and cook until the sauce thickens.  If it is too thick, add a bit of water or orange juice.  If it is still too thin, add a bit more cornstarch and water. At the very end, stir in the cashews and let them get hot.  Serve over rice.  

If you like, you could start with some chopped onions and bell peppers to add more veggies to the meal.  I didn't think of that until after I was eating, of course.  Toasting the cashews would have been good as well, but they were fine untoasted.  Like most of my recipes, this is very flexible!  You could use pork instead of the chicken.  Changing up the veggie blend, or using fresh veggies would be fun.  It could easily be doubled to feed a family, too.  If you make this, or use my method as inspiration, I'd love to hear how you make out!