Chinese Almond Chicken - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 tablespoons soy sauce
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons sherry
3 pounds chicken, skin removed, meat removed from bones and cut into bite sized pieces
1 1/2 cups peanut oil for frying
1 cup blanched almonds
1/3 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup diagonally sliced bamboo shoots
1/2 cup diagonally sliced celery
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
10 whole water chestnuts, thinly sliced
1/4 cup peanut oil
1/3 cup chicken stock

Preparation

Mix the soy sauce, salt, cornstarch, and sherry in a large bowl. Stir in chicken; cover and refrigerate.
Heat 1 1/2 cups of the peanut oil in a large, deep skillet. Fry almonds in the oil until golden, about 1 minute. Drain fried almonds on a paper towel.
Drain all but 3 tablespoons of oil from the skillet. Stir in the mushrooms, bamboo shoots, celery, onion, and water chestnuts. Cook and stir vegetables for 1 minute. Remove from skillet.
Heat 1/4 cup oil in the skillet. Cook and stir the marinated chicken in hot oil until no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in cooked vegetables, chicken stock, and reserved soy sauce mixture; simmer until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in fried almonds before serving.