Thai Cashew Chicken

 This was really really, restaurant quality good.

1.5 lbs thighs cut into 3/4"-1" long pieces.  Combine 1 B soy sauce, 2 T flour, 2 T water, 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp black pepper (I think I did 10-12 grinds); whisk until smooth.  Coat chicken and marinate.   (recipe doesn't give time; I did ~15 min).

Make sauce.  Combine 2T soy sauce, 1.5 T Thai chili paste (Nam Prik Pao), 1 T white sugar, 1 T oyster sauce, 3 T water, and whisk until sugar disolves.

Heated big pan on high (9?) with 1.5-2 T oil until nearly smoking.  Added chicken in one batch since pan is large enough.  Let sit for 1.5 min until nicely browned, then scrabbled around to brown other side.  ~2-3 min total.  Transferred chicken to other bowl.  (it's ok if they're a little underdone as they'll cook another 2-3 min in the sauce).

Toasted 1C cashews in toaster over while this was happening.  (original recipe calls for pan frying).

Chopped vegetables: green beans to 1" lengths, 3-4 celery stalks to 1" lengths and 1/4" width, carrot thinly sliced.  I blanched the green beans in boiling water for ~1-2 min until dark green and then rinsed in cold.

Large mince 6 cloves garlic.  Original recipe also calls for red onion, but I added the white parts of 4-5 scallions cut to 1" lengths and halved.

Heat 1-2 T oil med-high (7-8), toss in garlic and onion.  Recipe says to let garlic get golden.  I stir-fried everything before that could happen.  After 1-2 min stir frying vegetables, added chicken back in and poured sauce over.  Let everything simmer for 1-2 min.  At the end add green parts of scallion cut to 1" lengths and the cashews.

I left out chlies, but you can also add dried red chilies at the stir-frying step along with the other aromatics.

SO GOOD!