Chicken Stir-Fry with Broccoli and Cashew Nuts

This is a very important dish for my family because it introduced my pretty-small-then daughters to the Chinese (or at least Chinese style) cuisine. The girls were very picky eaters and there was a very narrow variety of products they would be happy to eat. But - probably like majority of mothers - I tried to slowly introduce them to new ingredients. When finally they seemed to be ready, I made this stir-fry and they loved it (OK, I still had to pick out carrots from one of the portions but at least my daughter didn't mind that the carrots touched other ingredients so it was a great success after all!). The only complaint was about the small amount of cashews so from then on I always added more of them.

When I cook this dish nowadays, I add slightly more oyster sauce to it to give a more distinct flavour. So if you cook for older children or adults, you should put 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce instead of the 2 mentioned in the recipe below.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 portions):

2 tbsp wok oil,

500g chicken breasts (or thigh fillets), skinless, cut into bite –size pieces,

1 clove garlic, crushed,

1 leek (approx. 200g), thinly sliced,

1-2 carrots (approx. 150g), cut into julienne (matchsticks) strips,

250g broccoli, cut into small florets,

1 tsp cornflour,

125ml chicken stock,

2 tbsp oyster sauce,

100g roasted, unsalted cashew nuts.

METHOD:

1. Heat up 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok.
2. Add the chicken in 2-3 batches, stir-fry till cooked through and golden; put aside on a plate.
3. Heat up the rest of the oil in a wok, add the garlic, leek, carrots and broccoli; stir fry until the vegetables are cooked through but still crunchy; add the chicken.
4. Dissolve the cornflour in the stock, add to the wok together with the oyster sauce and cashews and cook till the sauce thickens.
5. Serve with cooked rice.