Sometimes a small accident happens in life and later, after catastrophe occurs, you find yourself pointing to the tiny accident wondering, "Was that a catalyst to disaster? Did that lead to a much bigger accident of epic proportions?"Okay, maybe I'm being a little dramatic. Today I made cashew chicken from a recipe in one of those "Cooking for 2" magazines. It called for a sauce made of soy sauce, sugar, ginger, salt and cornstarch. I have never used cornstarch ever.
When I opened the container, which has an impossibly wide mouth, I couldn't even figure out how to get the cornstarch from the container to my little giraffe measuring spoon. So I just attempted to pour and of course got cornstarch all over the counter, all over me and very little in the actual spoon. It didn't seem like any real damage was done, so I moved on with my life. But I won't lie...I was already frazzled.
See that looks okay right? No biggie so far. I sauteed some onion and celery, then set that aside. Then I added some chicken breast tenders to the skillet and cooked those on medium heat.
At that time, I added the sauce, as per the directions. The directions DID NOT INDICATE I SHOULD TURN THE HEAT DOWN. And I don't know if I even should have! What I do know is that when I poured the sauce in, it immediately congealed into the scariest soy sauce nuggets I have ever seen. I don't think the sauce even remotely touched the chicken because it was too busy rolling itself into balls. It was so horrifying. Why did this happen, friends? Why?
After what I'm calling the Cornstarch Catastrophe, I was pretty much distraught. I almost forgot to add the cashews! But I did. And here's the shocking part:
See that looks okay right? No biggie so far. I sauteed some onion and celery, then set that aside. Then I added some chicken breast tenders to the skillet and cooked those on medium heat. 
At that time, I added the sauce, as per the directions. The directions DID NOT INDICATE I SHOULD TURN THE HEAT DOWN. And I don't know if I even should have! What I do know is that when I poured the sauce in, it immediately congealed into the scariest soy sauce nuggets I have ever seen. I don't think the sauce even remotely touched the chicken because it was too busy rolling itself into balls. It was so horrifying. Why did this happen, friends? Why?I decided to march on, so I added some chicken broth and peas. The directions said to let this sauce "thicken." Since it had already thickened to nuggets, I just decided to stop when I felt like it.
After what I'm calling the Cornstarch Catastrophe, I was pretty much distraught. I almost forgot to add the cashews! But I did. And here's the shocking part:
Sean liked it! He said it was great. And I will say, it wasn't awful. It was maybe a little too salty and of course, in my distress, I overcooked the chicken (as per usual). But it was edible.
But seriously friends. What happened? Was I supposed to turn the heat down? Was it something to do with the cornstarch?
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