This Vietnamese recipe is adapted from one in the Step-By-Step New Asian Cooking book I picked up from the sales rack in Waldenbooks. I have about 15 of the books in these series. They're really marvelous books and only cost $2.99 apiece. I believe they had a buy three, get one free special and I took advantage of that. I told myself I would give these to my daughter, but I don't want to part with them!

With most Asian cooking I've found it's the preparation that takes all the time. I cut up and chopped everything that needed to be prepared, toasted the coconut, and placed all the ingredients in little glass bowls on a tray and refrigerated them until it was time to cook dinner.

The preparation was really worth the effort because it was delicious! My picture doesn't do it justice because it doesn't have the toasted coconut on top and doesn't show the rice with the scattered coriander. Very colorful and tasty dish.

1/2 cup (80g/2 2/3 oz) raw cashews (I used dry roasted from a jar)
2 tbsp oil
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 large onion, cut in large chunks
2 tsps chopped red chillies (didn't use these)
350 g (11 1/4) chicken thigh fillets, chopped. (I used 12 oz. of BREAST meat cut in bite-sized pieces.)
1/2 red pepper, chopped (I cut into bite sized pieces)
1/2 green pepper chopped (same)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 cups (320 g/10 1/4 oz) chopped fresh pineapple
3 spring onions, chopped
2 tbsp shredded coconut, toasted. (I put it on aluminum foil and placed it under the broiler for about a minute and a half...you have to watch that it doesn't burn)
fresh coriander leaves (I used frozen...fresh would be nicer!)

1. Roast the cashews on an oven try for about 15 minutes in a moderate 180 C (350 F/Gas 4) oven, until deep golden; allow to cool.
2. Heat the oil in a wok or large deep frying pan and stir fry the garlic, onion and chillies over medium heat for 2 minutes; remove from wok. Increase the heat to high and stir-=fry the chicken and peppers in two batches, tossing until the chicken is light brown. The heat must be very high so the chicken will be succulent.
3. Return the onion mixture to the wok, add the oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar and pineapple and toss for 2 minutes. Toss the cashews through. Arrange on a serving plate and scatter the spring onion and coconut over the top. Serve immediately with rice. (I used Jasmine) garnished with fresh coriander leaves.