Cashew Chicken with a Burnt Chilli Paste

Recipe from Chilli Night

Ingredients
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
350g chicken thigh fillets, cubed
2 tbs water
2 tsp sugar
1 red cayenne chilli, thinly sliced
10 Thai basil leaves, torn up
4 Kaffir lime leaves, shredded
100g cashews, unsalted

Burnt Chilli Paste
3 tbs peanut oil
7 dried chillis, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbs small dried prawns
1 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs tamarind water (30g piece tamarind soaked in 1/2 cup boiling water and strained)
2 tbs brown sugar

Method
To make the burnt chilli paste, heat the oil in a frying pan over a moderate heat and fry the onion until softened, then remove and set aside.
Add the dried chillies to the pan and fry until blackened.  Set aside.
Add the garlic and fry until golden.
Grind the dried prawns, half of the fried chillies, the onion and garlic together with a pestle and mortar to create a coarse paste.
Add the resultant mixture to the pan with the fish sauce, tamarind water and sugar.  Heat gently for a few minutes, stirring constantly, then set aside.
Heat the peanut oil in a wok and fry the sliced garlic until brown.  Add the chicken and fry for a couple of minutes on each side to seal. 
Crumble the remaining fried chillies into the wok and add 2 tbs of the burn chilli paste, then the fish sauce, water, sugar and sliced chilli.  Fry over a high heat.
Add the basil leaves, kaffir lime leaves and cashew nuts and fry for another minute.

Garnish with red chilli and basil and serve with coconut rice.