Stir-fried, crisp chicken with cashews is a popular Chinese dish. It's easy and quick to prepare at home.
Serving the chicken over brown rice instead of white rice doubles the fiber, but brown rice takes about 45 minutes to cook. There are several brands of quick-cooking brown rice. Their cooking time ranges from 10 minutes to 30 minutes. I find the 30-minute rice has more flavor, but any quick-cooking rice will work for this dinner.
It calls for a small amount of dry sherry in the chicken recipe. You can buy small bottles or splits of sherry at most liquor stores.
Stir-Fry Chicken With Cashews
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
3 medium cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 medium red bell pepper, sliced
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup cashews
2 green onions, sliced
Mix soy sauce, vinegar, sherry, ginger and garlic together in a small bowl. Add chicken and marinate while you prepare the other ingredients. Heat a wok or skillet over high heat and add sesame oil. Remove chicken from marinade with a slotted spoon, reserving liquid. Add chicken to wok and stir-fry 2 minutes. Remove to a plate. Add red bell pepper. Stir-fry 2 minutes. Mix the cornstarch with reserved marinade. Add marinade and chicken to the wok and stir-fry 2 minutes with the peppers. Remove from heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle cashews and green onion on top and serve over rice.
Makes 2 servings.
Nutrition information: Each serving contains approximately 372 calories, 30 g protein, 16 g fat, 21 g carbohydrate (11 g sugar), 68 mg cholesterol, 1, 281 mg sodium and 2 g fiber.
Carbohydrate choices: 1 1/2.
Quick Brown Rice With Broccoli
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup quick-cooking brown rice
2 cups broccoli florets
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Salt and ground black pepper
Bring water to a boil over high heat and add rice. Bring back to a simmer, lower to medium heat, cover and cook 25 minutes or according to package instructions.
Add broccoli florets, cover, and continue to cook 5 minutes. The water should be evaporated. If not, remove the cover and cook a few minutes more. If the rice becomes dry before it is cooked, add more water. Add sesame oil and salt and pepper to taste.
Makes 2 servings.
Nutrition information: Each serving contains approximately 210 calories, 7 g protein, 4 g fat, 39 g carbohydrate (1 g sugar), 122 mg sodium, no cholesterol and 4 g fiber.
Carbohydrate choices: 2 1/2.
Recipe adapted from Mix 'n' Match Meals in Minutes for People with Diabetes by Linda Gassenheimer, published by the American Diabetes Association
Food on 04/29/2015