Egging with nuts

Smokin' Todd

I want to do some chicken with roasted cashews and/or peanuts using my wok on the egg. For those of you with eggsperience, when do u add the nuts...the whole cook? towards the end?
Thanx,
ST

Big'un

Smokin' Todd,
I do wok in my kitchen; usually under time constraints, so I haven't eggwok'ed yet. However, I always add mine in last couple minutes of cooking so that the cashews maintain some crunch. Just keep in mind that one burnt cashew will just about ruin the taste in the whole dish. If you are looking to "roast" the cashews, do them first, remove, and add to the dish later to absorb some of the sauce. Hope this helps. Wok on!

Haggis

Smokin' Todd,[p]Although I haven't done it on the Egg yet, here's what I've been doing since 1972: [p]We use a recipe for Kung Pao Ji Ting (chicken and peanuts) that calls for raw, not roasted peanuts (available in Asian food stores.) The original recipe (I think from the old Time Life Recipes of the World series) called for a cup of oil to be heated just short of smoking, then removing from the heat and the peanuts added - the theory is that they will cook in the heat of the oil. I've never liked to use that much oil so I use maybe a quarter of a cup and leave it on the heat while cooking the peanuts. They cook quickly once they are hot so you have to watch carefully. Then remove them from the oil - they will continue to cook so its best to undercook in the wok.[p]At that point you still have oil in the wok and can add your chicken or whatever. When it is cooked, add whatever sauces you are using and then mix the peanuts back in. Get it off the heat as soon as possible to avoid overcooking them.[p]I've never tried cashews.[p]