Creamy Cashew Chicken Curry

Thanks to Silk products for sponsoring this post!

With the colder weather, I’ve been cooking up some hearty recipes that can warm us up. This creamy cashew chicken curry is irresistible: busy parents love it because it’s healthy, fast, and can cook on the stove while you’re helping with homework, and most kids love the tender chicken and the creamy sauce.

Curry is a sauce or rub of herbs, spices, and chilies, used in Southeast Asia. The most common spices are tumeric (which often gives curries a distinctive yellow/orange color), cumin, coriander, and dried or fresh chilies. Inside the curry you can find chicken, fish, meat, or for the many vegetarians, just vegetables. Kids in India and Pakistan enjoy curry, but also in the UK! Other countries include Sri Lanka, Nepal, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan!

To make this Cashew Chicken Curry, gather the following ingredients:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 a stick)
• 1 large onion (2 cups)
• 2-3 large garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon peeled, fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• cayenne (optional- you know your kids best:)
• 3-4 lbs chicken, (boneless, skinless breasts or thighs work well) 
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 c Silk Cashew Milk (original)
• 1/2 c brown sugar

1. First, chop the onion and garlic. Have your kids grate the ginger on a microplane grater-zester. Teach them to be careful with their little fingers!

2. Hear the butter in a large pan and add all of the fragrant ginger, garlic, and onion. Once the onions become translucent, add all of the spices and mix well.

3. While it’s cooking, cut up the chicken into bite size pieces. I let my older kids work with raw chicken, but I have explained over and over that the raw chicken juice is like poison and we have to wash our hands and all the surfaces where it splashes really, really well. They are getting more experienced in the kitchen and start screaming like crazy when the chicken juice spills.

4. Pour in the can of tomatoes with half a can of water as well and let it simmer for almost an hour. In the picture above, we are making a double recipe because my family is large and eats a lot:). This recipe is great for freezing or keeping in the fridge for another night! After it cooks for 40 minutes or so, check the chicken. You’ll know it’s ready when the chicken is so tender you can cut it with a fork.

5. Once the chicken is falling apart, add a cup and a half of the cashew milk and the half cup of brown sugar and stir to incorporate. Traditionally, yogurt, milk, and ground, roasted cashews are used, but we have milk allergies in our family. We frequently use cashew milk in our soups to make them creamy and it works so well you can’t tell it’s non-dairy! The cashew milk is creamier than skim milk, and you can use it in your soups as a replacement that’s better for you than heavy cream (or in our case, to avoid a milk allergy).

The chicken is so, so tender even my one year old (who hates the chewy texture of meat!) loves this cashew chicken curry! Remember that kids need to be exposed to different textures, tastes, and ingredients (click here for all of our global recipes for kids). I also want to try this Paneer (cheese) in Cashew Sauce.