The Kai phat met mamuang, or Kai phat met mamuang himmaphan, is a traditional dish from central Thailand.
The dish consists of chicken stir-fried with cashews.
It is usually prepared with a combination of chicken breast, cashews, onions, spicy peppers, spring onions, garlic, flour, oyster sauce, soy sauce, oil, sugar, and chicken broth.
“Kai” means chicken, “pad” or “path” means stir-fried, “met” translates to seed, and “mamuang” means mango, but “met mamuang” actually refers to cashews, not mango. ‘Med mamuang himmaphan’ is the full name for cashews, but it’s shortened to ‘med mamuang’ in spoken language.
The dish is typically served with steamed jasmine rice on the side.
Its origins are from the Gong Bao Ji Ding, or Kung Pao Chicken, which has existed since the time of Emperor Xiang Feng of the Qing Dynasty.
It comes from Ding Bao Jin, a nobleman from Guizhou who greatly enjoyed eating fried chicken with peanuts and dried chili. Later, the menu was modified using cashews instead of peanuts.
This version of mine was made during my Thai cooking course in Ao Nang, an experience booked through GetYouGuide, in the first part of my trip to Thailand in October 2024.
From the Chinese cashew chicken 腰果雞丁 typical of Zhejiang, then came the Sino-American dish:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 2 People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Thai
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz chicken breast
- 2.1 oz baby corn
- 2.1 oz onion
- 2.1 oz wood ear mushrooms
- 1 spring onion
- 2 fresh red chilies
- 2 tbsps cashews
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp palm sugar
- 2 tbsps fish sauce
- 2 tbsps oyster sauce
- 2 stalks lemongrass
- 1 as needed carrot
- as needed vegetable oil
Steps
Mince the garlic and chop the onions, the spring onion into three including the stem, the chili, the carrot, the baby corn, the mushrooms, and the lemongrass.
Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and season it with garlic.
Preheat a sufficient amount of oil in a large wok or skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken, using a spatula to ensure the pieces do not stick.
Fry the chicken until golden brown.
Add the baby corn, onion, carrot, mushrooms.
Sauté.
And add the remaining ingredients.
The sauces and the sugar.
Serve with jasmine rice.
This is the recipe from the Thai cooking course pantry which you can download for free and where you will also find various information on Thai cuisine and many other traditional recipes, such as the papaya salad, som tam, or the mango sticky rice.
