Springfield Cashew Chicken

Darren Wright

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Springfield, Missouri
Since my wife and I were dating, on every trip to see here grandparents, we've had to stop in Springfield, MO to get Springfield Cashew Chicken either on the way, way back, or both. Honestly, for years I never really cared for the dish at the places we stopped at as my mother-in-law had a recipe for it that beat all others. Until a few years ago when we had gone to Springfield for business and were talking with some of the locals about the dish. Two mentioned the history behind it and also mentioned that the creator's son (David Leong) had recently re-opened a restaurant, Leong's, serving the dish again. My wife and I looked up the restaurant that night and went there, wow what a treat, was almost ;) as good as mom's. We've actually taken the two hour drive (one way) there from KC just for the dish a few times when we had the craving.

This week I saw an article in Feast Magazine about the dish and the restaurant, thought it was worth sharing...
http://issuu.com/feaststl/docs/april_2015_issue/77?e=2175372/12060071

There was also an episode of FeastTV covering the story, posted here:
http://www.feastmagazine.com/feast_tv/article_b19b4572-dbe3-11e4-896a-63fdbc69f21d.html
 
What a great story! You have to admire folks who make a go of it like that.

There was a variant of this we used to get in Hawaii, but the restaurant closed just before we moved back to the mainland. It was unbreaded, but I'm afraid that it will probably remain my baseline for the dish :). Haven't tried making out the same but should, it's very tasty.

If you can get the mother in law to fess up her recipe for us I'd also be interested.
 
I couldn't find my MIL's recipe, but Leong's was posted in the article. ;) Though I know my MIL uses only white meat and soaks her chicken pieces in milk overnight. Usually two dips in the flour mix before going to the fryer.
 
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