Cashew nut ideas, please

Some while back I bought a big bag of cashew nuts for a dish. Bought them at the Asian supermarket so a big bag was far cheaper than a small bag at my normal supermarket. I have loads left and they’re now nearing their “best before” date. I’d like to use them up, with them perhaps featuring as the “main event” for dinner. I have about 500g. of them. Any thoughts, please?

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Vegan “cheese”? No, just joking with ya. You are probbly still traumatised from that experience.

Not dinner food, but how about cashew “butter”? I make my own chocolate spread using macadamia and dark chocolate.

Hmm,what other savoury applications to use up cashew? Pretty sure I have seen recipes using them to thicken the sauce. Malaysian and Indian dishes I’m sure.

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Are they plain or salted?

How about a nut crust on … whatever … fish, chicken, cauliflower slab, or turn them into butter then a Thai style peanut (cashew) sauce for dip or noodles.

I came out in a cold sweat when I read that.

Babette - they’re plain.

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Suggest toasting them gently first - either stovetop or in the oven - to freshen them up.

Cashew butter seems like a natural solution, but I don’t have a lot of uses for it, so it depends on whether you’d use it.

A closely related solution is nut balls / energy balls - I make a Nutella-ish version with dayes, cocoa, cashews, and hazelnuts, or a chocolate truffle version with dates, cocoa, and cashews. Lasts a very long time, even longer in the fridge, and is a nice snack or dessert substitute. Uses up a LOT of nuts.

Extended family loves cashews in any asian-ish stir-fry - so kung pao chicken or whatever else you like to eat in that vein, with sautéed cashews (to crisp them up) added at the very end.

And finally, dessert - on of my favorite indian sweets is Kaju Katli - sort-of cashew fudge. Ingredients are cashews, milk powder or condensed milk, sugar. Delicious, and lasts a long time in the freezer (or not, if I’m snacking on them). Also cashew brittle or chikki.

You could also do snacking versions of cashews - spiced, caramelized, and so on. They work well to add on to things too - salad, soup, and so on.

I agree with roasting to freshen them. Do you have basil? I use pistachios when I make pesto. You could use the cashews for that. It freezes well. Perhaps you could just freeze the nuts and use them PRN.

Kung Pao cashew chicken

The original Sichuan version uses peanut, but many recipes use cashew.

I may be missing something, but why not just eat them?

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My husband is from Springfield, MO and this dish is one of his most favorite things on earth. I, on the other hand, give it 0 stars, absolutely would not recommend. The linked recipe looks like it might be better than what you get at the typical Springfield cashew chicken joint, but it is not authentic - or at least the scallion sauce and chili oil-roasted cashews aren’t. What you get in Springfield is breaded and fried chunks of chicken (all white meat costs extra!), swimming in a gloopy brown sauce (the linked recipe looks about right), and topped with a handful of chopped raw scallions and cashews straight from the can. White or fried rice, egg roll and two fried wontons included.

Anyway, I would recommend a number of Indian dishes that use cashews as a sauce ingredient, particularly if yours are raw. If they are roasted and salted I would just eat them straight! :slight_smile: Here’s one of my favorites (adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Ayer):

Cashew Chicken with Fenugreek
4 T oil
1 medium red onion, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup cashews
1 t. cumin seeds
2 whole cloves
1/4 t. cardamom seeds
2 fresh green chiles, chopped
1 cinnamon stick
1 c. water
8 chicken legs and/or thighs, bone in, skin removed (also works well with boneless/skinless cut in chunks)
1/2 t. turmeric
salt to taste
1/2 c. chopped fresh or frozen fenugreek leaves

Heat 2T oil in a large skillet and add the onion, garlic, cashews, cumin seeds, cloves, cardamom, chiles and cinnamon stick. Stirfry until onions and cashews are browned and the spices are fragrant. Pour water into blender jar and add caramelized onion mixture. Blend until completely smooth.

Heat remaining oil in the same skillet and add chicken in a single layer. Cook until evenly browned, then add onion sauce, salt, turmeric and fenugreek leaves. Turn the chicken to coat well with sauce, then cover, turn heat to low and simmer until chicken is done, adding a little water if pan gets too dry. Serve with rice.

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I didn’t know your family had Missouri roots!
Welcome to the club.

For your hub.

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Harters,

A prawn, bok choi, cashew and rice noodles in a Wok could be nice …

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Ha, love it! DH agrees with all of these conclusions except the white meat-only option - he loves dark meat (the gristlier the better). Are you from Springfield or another part of the state? DH grew up in Springfield but moved to St. Louis after college for about 10 years before I spirited him off to NYC.

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I agree with all the recs for cashew chicken. Penang curry is often thickened with cashews, but you could add some in, whole, for textural interest.

I know you’re not asking for sweets, but cashew and caramel cookies or bars are excellent. You could also make a snack mix with them, or sweet and salty cashews to munch on. Trail mix too.

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I think I originally bought them to cook Fuchsia Dunlop’s recipe for gong bao chicken (which is my favourite Sichuan dish). I’d gone to the shop to buy peanuts but they only had cashews.

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I grew up in KC. Friend went to Drury.
My brother in law grew up on a farm in the Ozarks below Nixa.

  • the Morells were from Springfield
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If you are into milk alternatives cashew milk is easy to make. I forget why he started using it by my husband likes it better than milk in coffee and tea now. It is not due to not liking dairy because he eats plenty of ice cream. We use a vitamix but I think it would work with any half way decent blender. Unlike almond milk there is no need to soak or strain. Just put about 1/2 a cup of nuts with 1 1/2 water and blend for 40 seconds or so. If not using a high speed blender you might want to strain it.

This girl is dairy intolerant, so those cashews would become a base for a cream sauce of some sort

I know of cashew milk but I guess I didn’t know how popular it is to turn it into a cream/milk replacement for so many dishes.

As a cilantro lover, this sounds like a really delicious and versatile sauce:

I’m also a big snacker, so a healthy and savory snack like this is right up my alley. Plus that you can use this to top salads, soups, etc.

When I had this fortunate cashew bag on hand, I was inspired by this quick snack.

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