When life gives you lemongrass, make ... I have absolutely NO idea.
For the second time in the past few years I planted lemongrass in my front yard because in my imaginary world I cook a LOT with lemongrass. Mainly I do a lot of chicken and dips plus I've learned how to distill the essential oils from it, so the possibilities with THAT are endless.
Unfortunately as I said this is in my imaginary world.
In my real world I grow lemongrass, cut its stalks off, put them in the freezer and then throw them out when I need to make room for ice cream.
And no. Not lemongrass ice cream.
This year I anticipate it will be the same as I'm already conjuring up images of myself pounding out my lemongrass stalks into a concoction of ginger, soy and chile flakes. I'm also conjuring me making dinner in a pair of Artemis shoes that I don't own while holding a glass of wine which I don't drink. Yup. My imaginary world strikes again.
After hacking off some of my lemongrass stalks (just cut them barely above soil level) and bringing it inside I thought I may need to call in help for this one. It's not that I don't know how to cook with lemongrass and I usually have all the ingredients that go well with it, it's just that I haven't got into the habit of cooking with it.
And also, I don't know if you've noticed this but lemongrass recipes, even the simplest ones, tend to part of recipes that require 897 other ingredients. It's never like, "Add the lemongrass to your other 3 ingredients". It's always, "Step 54: Add lemongrass to freshly secured fish eyeballs, making sure not to disturb your homemade fermented tequila tinged miso paste."
So I never (or rarely( cook with lemongrass.
To try to head this off at the pass I'm hoping you're going to be able to help me out and lead me in the right direction.
Do YOU have a recipe that includes lemongrass that you love? Does it have less than 897 ingredients and does it take fewer than 4 days to make it?
I'm hoping you do.
Because if you don't, I might as well forego the whole freezer facade and stock up on ice cream.
Have a good weekend!
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charissa
I forgot to include "proof" of goodness. My lovely Vietnamese neighbor asked for the recipe after i shared some with his wife. Highest compliment ever😉
charissa
Forgot to include "proof" of goodness. My lovely Vietnamese neighbor asked for the recipe after I shared some with his wife. Highest compliment ever😉
charissa
https://www.marthastewart.com/351496/sloppy-bao. i know... this only has a 3 star rating... i can't help if people are crazy!!! I have made this over a dozen time and everyone goes crazy for it (except my husband. he hates lemongrass. he also hates cucumbers, and basically all veg. See... cray cray.) no, it is not healthy, but u eat french fries and this is worth it. ps. i use whatever oil i am into at the time... not the safflower oil it calls for and definitely not olive oil. don't. i tried it once.😯
Tracy
Lemongrass basil martinis. Simple syrup out of lemongrass and basil, fresh lime, lemon, and or orange juice, vodka. Delish!
Marie Anne
That sounds yummy!
Dawn Scott
I made Curry Kapitan this week from a Malaysian cookbook that I don’t have right now. It was delicious. Closest on line recipe is on the blog theboywhoatetheworld. Used anchovy paste and fish sauce instead of fermented shrimp paste. Thin and thick coconut milk from cans, and added fresh lime juice at the end. Actually had some fresh turmeric root in the fridge! Did not use galingal, fresh ginger instead. Took a few hours , mainly peeling the 15 shallots, and grinding up the curry paste with a hand blender which was very time consuming, but was definitely worth the effort. Love your blog.
Christina Biles
3 "recipes"
Flavored water:
Take lemongrass (the eaty part, not the sawtooth part)
and fresh ginger cut into coins (I prefer skin off, but eh, whatever)
Throw in a jar of water, put in the back of fridge, drink water after 24 hours+
Also makes good hot tea, but the flavor develops better with longer steeping imo.
Syrup:
Simple syrup (1:1 water:sugar) simmered on the stovetop, add lemongrass. (You can use the not eaty bits as easily as the eaty bits) Use in tea, on pancakes, as a brush on for cakes/cookies, dribble a bit on fresh strawberries or peaches or apples. Also tasty as a base for cocktails or a sorbet. Combines well with ginger, or lavender, or rosemary.
Chicken soup:
Make your favorite chicken soup and add some lemongrass. Alternatively, if you make broth from a chicken carcass, throw in some lemongrass leaves or use them to tie up an herb bundle.
Cussot
I wonder if I can grow lemongrass in Ottawa - how did you get it started, Karen?
Karen
I bought the plant started (it was very small) at a local President's Choice grocery store garden centre. :) ~ karen!
Robert
Honestly all I do with it is tea so I can't help you with this one
Angela Nett
Tom Kha soup!
Coconut milk
Chicken broth
Soy sauce
Sliced Galengal root chunks
Lime leaves
Lemongrass
Chili flakes
Simmer the above ingredients until fragrant and you can taste the flavors of the spices
Then add any combination of:
Tomatoes
Thin sliced chicken
Mushrooms
Shrimp
Easiest soup ever and my favorite way to enjoy lemongrass 💜🐸
CONNIE VOLLKMAN
This is also my recipe except for the thin chicken slices, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Oh, and I have no idea where to get Lime leaves but that's a wonderful addition.
After simmering for about 30 minutes, I add the shrimp and continue cooking for about 5 minutes but no longer as the shrimp will become a rubbery hunk.
I serve with tiny bits of cilantro for garnish.
Karen
I'm not sure how easy Galangal is to get, lol. Although weirdly I think I have some dried in my cupboard that I brought back from Thailand. ~ karen!
Angela Nett
Most Asian markets have galengal root and lime leaves in their freezer section. I’m from a smallish city in Wa state (certainly not known for its diversity) and I found it here, lol 👍🏻
Shana
This is also my favorite!! https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/thai-chicken-coconut-soup-tom-kha-gai
Bianca
I have similar feelings towards lemongrass when it comes in my CSA box. I've made a semi-pho/Asian style soup that brews lemongrass in the broth beforehand. Here's the recipe... https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-grass-chicken-soup. Most of the time I get sick of it being in my fridge so I slice it up and let it dry out on some towels on the counter, and then I use it in tea with ginger for tummyaches. Good luck on your lemongrass adventures!
Trinity Mallimaci
Ok. Super easy recipe. I promise.
1 cup basmati rice (rinsed til water runs clear)
1 can coconut milk plus water to equal 1.5 cups total
I stalk lemongrass, whacked with flat of knife to smash and release yummy flavor
1" piece of ginger, peeled
Bring to a boil, reduce to a low simmer and cover. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes. Fluff with fork and enjoy!
Karen
See? Now that I could whip up on a weeknight no problem. :) ~ karen!
Mary W
I can almost smell and taste it - sounds really good and so easy!
Ella
This is my basic go to stir fry for one with some leftovers for the next day If you’re making for more than one, increase the marinade and sauce amounts incrementally. This is just a base...from here make it to your own taste :)
Scrape out the pulp from two or three stalks of lemon grass and chop briefly until you have about 1-2 tbsp. Grate an equal of fresh ginger (or scoop it out of a bottle). Ditto for chopped garlic. Dump it in a ziplock. Add your protein of choice (cubed chicken, pork, tofu or whole cleaned shrimp). Shmoosh around to make sure everything is coated and toss in the fridge for a while. When ready to make your stir fry combine all this in a bowl: about 1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce, 2 tsp brown sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like a stir fry) and about 1tsp sesame oil. Add chili flakes (lots) if desired. Mix this all up. Heat a neutral oil (not olive) in a wok or large skillet until shimmering. Dump in your protein and stir fry until cooked. Remove and set aside. Now you can choose to chop fresh veggies or just use one of the excellent frozen “Asian” blends which is what Indo - about half a small package.. Dump those in. Stir fry until hot, cooked through and bright. Add back in the protein, add in your sauce, stir it all around until the sauce thickens a bit and everything is hot and delicious looking. Serve over rice or Asian style noodles. Top with chopped cashews and a little cilantro if you wanna get fancy. Really yummy the next day too.
Oh and in my experience mozzies could care less about lemongrass so I would sat hype.
Karen
Nice! ~ karen
Sharman
Thai Coconut Curry Sauce
In a blender or mini food processor put:
1 stalk chopped lemon grass (tender bits)
Half a small onion
3-4 cloves garlic
Thumb size of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2-3 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp. Coriander
1 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp brown sugar
Couple of handfuls fresh green coriander with stalks (cleaned)
Juice and zest from a lime
Small hot chilli peppers 1-4, depending on how hot you like it. Or use Sambal Oelek from a jar and save getting in your eyes.
Whiz until it’s a paste.
Heat a pan, add a little oil, add paste and fry a little.
Add a can (14 oz.) of conut milk, the higher the fat content the better.
Heat to a simmer.
Now, add chopped raw chicken breast, or raw shrimp, or chunks of white fish, plus some quick cooking veg, like chopped red pepper, zucchini, green beans, etc.
Simmer until everything is cooked.
Taste and add salt/sugar/lime until the balance suits your palate. Serve with rice or noodles.
Ta-da!
Karen
Ta-da! Sounds good. :) ~ karen!
Irene
Sharman, thank you! I tried this tonight, and it was yummy! The only thing I changed was using soy sauce instead of fish sauce, because it's what I had. :)
COURTNEY BECKER
A little late, but this simple version of Tom Kha Gai is a workweek staple for me...:
https://showmetheyummy.com/tom-kha-gai-soup/?m
I also use various stir fry vegetables and add rice.
Bev out west
If you put some stalks in olive oil for awhile will the o.oil taste lemony? But different than if leaving lemon peel in it? I've never thought of growing lemongrass, I wonder if deer would eat it. I'd like to try, because the stuff at the local grocery is never fresh, looks and tastes like straw, can't get a decent herbal tea from it, so no point trying to cook with it. I think properly fresh it should be quite nice as an addition with thinly sliced ginger to whatever vessel for cooking rice.
Karen
I've always found it easy to grow. Stick it in the dirt and wait. But I ran into a friend of mine at the grocery store yesterday and he said his never comes to anything. So I'm not sure what the trick to growing it is. Ignoring it? ~ karen!
Joi Lin
I have mule deer cruising through my back yard all the time, and they eat my tomatoes and lots of other things in my garden but always leave the lemon grass alone.
Bev out west
Then there is hope! And I will try ignoring it.
karen tomlinson
That is so funny - because I always have a plant growing - then cut it for my neighbors and tell them how wonderful it is in their coconut rice (which I have made exactly once). I read that you can dry the greens, chop them up and make tea. Another wonderful thing I won't do.
The scent - and the fact that my neighbors think I am a better cook than I am - are worth the effort growing it.
Lorri
Loooove lemongrass in chicken soup. https://www.marthastewart.com/1050077/lemongrass-chicken-soup
Lita
Ooh! Never tried this, but it sounds wonderful.
Debbie
https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/14-ways-to-use-lemongrass-gallery/list
Have not tried any of these recipes but I don't think they contain eyeballs in any of them.
You can always boil two cups of lemon grass in four cups of water. Boil for 5 minutes. Steep for an additional 10 minutes. Strain the stalks from the liquid and add 1/4 cup of sugar. Serve either hot or iced. Garnish with lime slices. Iced, it is refreshing on a hot day or it is good for colds and flu served hot.
SundayCooking
I add a few slices of fresh ginger, too. Sweetened to taste, it's great hot or cold.
Lita
I really only use mine for making tea as well. But I really do love the tea. Hot in the winter and iced in the summer. Sometimes with mint from the garden, or dried lavender flowers added. I just rinse off the dirt, mangle the woody root area a bit, wrap the leafy bit around until I have a bundle and plop it in the water. It's very easy to use this way, and the iced tea tastes like lemon drops.
Mary W
How do you save them after summer?
Lita
I imagine they would do well in the freezer since there is nothing tender about this plant. We live in central Texas so winters are very short and not very cold here...
Mary W
I will now try to grow some - this sounds right up my back fence alley. Thanks
Amanda
Hi Karen,
Do your lemongrass plants act as a natural insect repellent at least? I see a lot on Pinterest about planting lemongrass to deter mosquitos. Complete hype or could there be something to it?
Karen
Nope. They do nothing of the sort, lol. Maybe if I sat right in the middle of the lemongrass bush the mosquitos couldn't find me, but other than that ... nope. ~ karen!
Amanda
Hi Karen, do you plant this from seed? Cheers, Amanda
Karen
I buy the plants started in the spring and they're VERY very small. Just a few upright leaves really. You'd never think it would grow to the size it does by the end of summer. ~ karen!
Celia
I had a lemongrass plant on my patio for several years. Only had two mosquitoes seek me out in all that time.
Bethany Jones
I think you’re best off making soap.
Soap is what everything I’ve ever made with lemongrass tastes like. Yum!
KimS
Too funny I ordered a soup I had never had at a local Thai restaurant—had lemongrass in it... my husband said it tasted like dish water I think that was the soap thing coming out !
Linda J Howes
Ooh, I make lemongrass soap I call it Here Comes The Sun after a young girl picked up a bar and proclaimed, Mommy, this soap smells like sunshine!
Raymonde
Take a look at Ricardo's lemongrass recipes, simple and always tasty!
https://www.ricardocuisine.com/en/search/key-words/lemongrass
Ttturbo
I love Ricardo for recipes, sadly, a good amount of these lemongrass ones seem to fall into the "897 ingredient" and four day category. Well, except for the fruit. In my world, three cans of fruit and a piece of whacked lemongrass.
Karen
They look great, I bookmarked a few. The Thai sauce seems like it would be drinkable!! ~ karen
signe langford
Open up a bottle of vodka. Insert lemongrass stalks. Wait a dignified amount of time - oh, say 2 weeks - drink up!
Sandra Lea
Nice, I love this idea.
CONNIE VOLKMAN
What a great idea.