Cashew Vegetables

 This dish is inspired by the cashew chicken at Chinese Room that I wrote about earlier this year.

I had some leftover kale and mushrooms in the fridge, and concocted this dish by putting it together with bok choy and carrots in an addictive Shaoxing sauce. Shaoxing is a Chinese cooking wine that adds great flavor to Chinese sauces. I got it from Chinatown in San Francisco but you can get it online too or at Asian grocery stores. The sauce this time turned out to be mindblowing. I just hope I can recreate the magic of this sauce because I was not measuring anything when I was making it. I tried my best below to recall how much of everything I used.

Serves 2 

You will need
kale leaves                          2
carrots                                 2
mushrooms                         7-8 button or cremini mushrooms
bok choy                             1 large
garlic                                   2-3 cloves, minced
dried red chillies                  3, roughly broken
cashews                              10-12

For the sauce:
fish sauce                            1 teaspoon
rice vinegar                         1 tablespoon
honey                                  1 tablespoon
brown sugar                         2 teaspoons
shaoxing wine                     3 tablespoons
salt                                       1 teaspoon
water                                   1 cup
corn flour                             1 1/2 tablespoon

Method

1. Wash and cut all the vegetables.
2. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a large pan, cook the carrots on medium heat for about 3 mins.
4. Add all the other vegetables, including the garlic, red chillies and cashews. Sauté everything together until vegetables are tender, about 5 mins.
5. Give a good stir to the sauce, because the cornflour tends to settle down at the bottom, then add it to the pan. 
6. Adjust the seasoning to your taste. For some more spice, add a sprinkling of black pepper.
7. Turn the heat off as the sauce thickens, most likely within a couple of mins.

Serve hot with rice.