I learn a lot of food trends from Dani, since I’m usually in my own head coming up with new combinations of things. Remember that vegan lasagna  we made a while ago? Well, cashews filled in for ricotta cheese– and it was a pretty awesome match.

Aside from that though, I haven’t done anything particularly special with the cashews we had left…and we have a lot of them…

More recently, I finally tackled Egusi which is a Nigerian stew thickened with ground melon seeds. In this case, I ground up cashews with shallots, ginger, lime juice, and some herbs, and from there I just treated it like curry paste.

So, you stir-fry the cashews until they darken up a little, add the mushrooms, green onions and some extra ginger. Then add the shrimp, and sear the shrimp, and coconut milk. Oh, and you’ll need a stock. You have some lying around, right? No? Well, it’s super easy– take the shells from the shrimp, more shallots, garlic, ginger, and green onion, and simmer them all in water. Once you season it– strain out the solids, and it’s ready.

The soup will thicken up quickly, so add stock until you get the consistency that you want. I was lazy, and just added the stock directly to the wok, let it simmer one more time, then serve over rice noodles.

Let’s cook.

You’ll need:

1 lb Shrimp

3 Cups Cashews

2 Shallots

2 Tbs Ginger, minced

4 Cloves of Garlic, minced

3 Green Onions, minced

1 Jalapeño, minced

1/2 Cups Cilantro

2 Cups Spinach

2 Cups Stock

2 Limes, juiced

4 Cups Rice Noodles

1 Tbs Coriander

2 Tbs Soy Sauce

2 Tbs Sesame Seeds

1 Tbs Paprika

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Combine cashews, half of the shallots, half the shallots, jalapeño, sesame seeds, and salt in a food processor. Blend until a paste forms, and add as needed. Set aside.
2. Stir-fry the paste in 1 tbs of oil in a wok on medium heat until it turns golden brown, then add remaining garlic, ginger, and shallots. Deglaze the wok, then add shrimp, and stir.
3. Season with salt, coriander, paprika, soy sauce, and pepper, then add lime juice and coconut milk. Simmer.
4. Add cilantro, and taste for seasoning.
5. Serve over noodles.

Done.