Cooking in

Japan

Thai · Central Thai

Pad Med Mamuang — Cashew Chicken / ผัดเม็ดมะม่วงหิมพานต์

Pad med mamuang (cashew stir-fry) is a mild, sweet-savoury Thai stir-fry that is both extremely popular internationally and frequently misrepresented by excessive sweetness. The key technique is separately deep-frying the cashews until golden before adding to the stir-fry — raw cashews added directly to the wok go soft; pre-fried cashews maintain crunch. The sauce is oyster sauce, fish sauce, a small amount of dark soy, and a moderate amount of palm sugar. Dried red chillies (prik haeng) are deep-fried alongside the cashews for colour and mild heat. The chicken (sliced breast or thigh) should be the freshest possible to handle the relatively simple sauce without any off-flavour contamination.

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ServesFour portions

Sourced0 of 6 in JP

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500 g

chicken breast and thigh, mixed

sliced into bite-sized pieces

Your own market

150 g

raw cashews

Origin · India

dried red chillies (prik haeng)

cut into 2 cm pieces, seeds partially removed

spring onions

cut into 3 cm lengths

Your own market

1 medium

yellow onion

cut into wedges

Your own market

For the sauce

2 tbsp

oyster sauce

1 tbsp

fish sauce

Your own market

1 tsp

dark soy sauce

1 tsp

palm sugar

shaved or grated

Origin · Indonesia

500 ml

neutral oil

for deep-frying

The Method

Heat the neutral oil in a wok or small saucepan to 160 °C. Add the raw cashews and deep-fry, stirring constantly, until they reach a pale gold — pull them at pale gold rather than waiting for full colour, because residual heat in the nut will carry them a shade darker on the paper. Lift out immediately with a slotted spoon and drain; the cashews are done when they are uniformly pale gold and smell of toasted nut.

In the same oil at the same temperature, fry the dried chilli pieces for 20–30 seconds until crispy and a deeper, darker red, keeping them moving so no single piece sits against the bottom long enough to scorch and turn bitter. They must not blacken. Remove and drain alongside the cashews; the signal is colour: dark red, not black.

From the canon — Dried red chillies, dry-toasted in a pan until their skins blister and darken, produce a qualitatively different flavour from untoasted dried chilli: the Mai… Dried Chilli: Toasting and Grinding →

Combine the oyster sauce, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, and palm sugar in a small bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Taste now, before anything else enters the wok, because the sauce sets the flavour of the entire dish and sweetness cannot be pulled back once the chicken is in. The sauce should be savoury-forward with restrained sweetness.

From the canon — Fish sauce — nam pla — is the universal salt of the Thai kitchen. Fish Sauce (Nam Pla): Selection and Use →

Drain all but 2 tbsp of oil from the wok and set over high heat until smoking — a properly smoking wok sears the chicken rather than steaming it, keeping the pieces distinct and lightly coloured rather than pale and wet. Add the chicken and stir-fry, spreading pieces against the wok surface, for 3–4 minutes in total. The chicken is ready when all surfaces are opaque and cooked through with no pink remaining.

Add the yellow onion wedges to the wok and toss with the chicken for 30–40 seconds, so the onion picks up the heat and the wok juices without surrendering its structure. Pour in the prepared sauce and toss to coat evenly. The onion should retain some resistance to the bite.

Add the spring onion lengths and the fried cashews and dried chillies, then toss once or twice — no more — over high heat, because a cashew that lingers in a wet, steaming wok loses the crispness it took two separate fryings to build. The spring onion should be just wilted at the edges but still green and textured. Remove from heat immediately.

III

Quality Hierarchy

Reserve — Free-range thigh and breast from a single named supplier; cashews deep-fried to order in fresh oil and added at the last moment per the pro-tip method, with fish sauce reduced slightly to account for the salt of the nuts; palm sugar from a traditional press.

Estate — Mixed thigh and breast of reliable provenance; raw cashews fried fresh; palm sugar block, shaved to order; fish sauce and oyster sauce from established Thai producers.

Market — Supermarket chicken thigh and breast, mixed; raw cashews from a bulk bin, fried as directed; palm sugar from a jar or substituted with light brown sugar at a slightly reduced quantity; standard-grade fish and oyster sauces.

House — Breast meat only; pre-roasted salted cashews added without frying — the texture will soften; granulated sugar in place of palm sugar; a sauce that tends toward the sweet, which is the dish's most common restaurant failing.

Sensory Tests

◇Sight. Cashews are pale gold on removal from oil — any deeper at this stage and they will overcook on carryover heat.

◇Sight. Dried chillies are dark red and crispy; a black colour indicates burning and bitter flavour.

◇Taste. Assembled sauce is savoury-forward with only moderate sweetness — palm sugar should round rather than dominate.

◇Sight. Chicken is fully opaque with no pink at the centre after 3–4 minutes of wok time.

◇Touch. Yellow onion retains slight resistance; spring onion is just wilted at the cut edges but holds its green colour.

◇Where it lives or dies. The sauce must be balanced before the chicken enters the wok — a result tilted too far toward sweetness cannot be corrected once cooking begins.

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