Cashew & Broccoli Rice with Breaded Soy Chicken

Hi, wonderful people!

As some of you may or may not know, I started my journey of cooking about a year ago. I didn't know how to cook anything super technical or anything layered in flavor. I had only ever been taught how to cook comfort food, which was fine, when I decided I need to step up my game. 

This last year I have grown so much as a cook and the people around me are pretty dang happy about that! At this point in my progress I am learning huge lessons with each meal that I cook. After I make these meals, I am going to post the recipe, including the alterations I should have made so your dining experience is a little bit better than mine. I hope to continue to post my journey here for you to all share with me and to try learning along with me! If you try this recipe and you notice other changes that need to be made, let me know! I would love it if you helped each other improve this year. 

Okay, on to the recipe!

Are you from Utah? Then I am sure you are experiencing the same amount of snow we are. I feel like we have been snowed in for a week or two, and going out for almost any reason seems reckless. We were hanging out this morning, playing games and enjoying each others company when we started day dreaming of Chinese food. Two things: No one is coming to or from our house with the amount snow thats on the ground, and we are trying to eat healthy. So I decided to try my hand at making rice and chicken with what we had in our fridge. The result? To quote Andrew, "This meal is phenomenal."

Ingredients

• 4 boneless chicken cutlets or tenders
• 2 farm eggs
• 3 scallions
• 1 cup Jasmine rice
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 pound broccoli
• 1 1-ince piece ginger
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 1/4 cup soy glaze*
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons black and white sesame seeds (to top the meal with)

Instructions

1. Preparation. Wash broccoli and cut into small florets. Grate ginger and mince garlic. Slice scallions then separate the white ends from the green. Put eggs in a small bowl and whisk until thin. 
2. Bring 1 1/4 cup water, a big pinch of salt, and rice to a boil on high, then reduce to low and cover with a lid. Let simmer 12-14 minutes or until rice is tender. Fluff with a fork.
3. In another pot, bring a water to a boil. Once boiling, put broccoli into water for 3-4 minutes or until tender and full of color. Drain and set aside.
4. Salt and pepper chicken on both sides, then cover in flower. In a skillet, heat a dash of sesame oil, 1 garlic clove, then place chicken in pan. Cook on both sides 4-7 minutes or until browned and cooked through. Put the remaining soy glaze in pan with chicken and cool another 2 minutes, periodically spooning glaze on to chicken.
5. In a deep skillet, put in a dash of oil (sesame or olive is fine), 3 garlic cloves, ginger, whites of the scallions and heat until fragrant. Put cashews in once fragrant for 1 minute. 
6. Put cooked rice and broccoli in the skillet and mix. Once mixed, pour in eggs, sesame oil, and 2/3 of the soy glaze. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, salt and pepper, sprinkle with garlic powder, then set aside. 
7. Plate chicken and rice, top with green scallions and sesame seeds. Serve hot. 

Soy Glaze* - I could not find soy glaze anywhere, so I just kind of made up my own. Then I realized there are probably recipes out there for this. I found this one that looks similar to what I did if you need a bit of a guide: Sweet Soy Glaze Recipe from Olgas Cooking

Enjoy!