January 27, 2007
Weekend Herb Blogging - Lemon Grass
It never occurred to me that lemon grass is classified as a culinary herb until I started doing some research on my second post for the Weekend Herb Blogging event. This week, the host is Tomato from Melbourne, Australia.
Lemon grass is commonly used for Asian cooking, especially for Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Indonesian cooking, in soups and curries.
They are as long as green onions, have a woody stalk and only the bottom whitish part can be used (i.e. about 6 inches from the base). Cut off the lower bulb and remove the tough outer leaves.
Bruising the lemon grass releases the aromatic oils from the juice sacs in the stalk. Usually I cut them into 2 inch lengths and use the back of my knife to pound it. When you sniff the lemon grass after pounding, you will find that it has a citrus lemony fragrance.
Lemon grass is also known by the name Citronella. Citronella oil is used in soaps, as a mosquito repellent in insect sprays and candles, and also in aromatherapy. It is known to have a calming effect that relieves insomnia or stress.
I made a hot and spicy Tom Yum Goong (Prawns) Soup recently and used lemon grass as an ingredient.
Below are some of the other ingredients used. Not in the picture are: tom yum paste, sugar and fish sauce. For full recipe and cooking method, refer to here.
When serving, remove the lemon grass pieces as they are too fibrous to be eaten unless they are sliced very thinly or pounded until softened using a mortar and pestle.
I have a couple stalks left in my refrigerator and am eager to make more soups and curries. So stay tuned!
Note: Lemon grass can be found in Asian supermarkets and cost $1.99/lb in Ranch 99.
Bite This!
More recipes:
Chicken Recipe (6) - Dried Chicken Curry (Indonesian Style)
Weekend Herb Blogging! - Red Dates
Vung Tau Restaurant - Bánh Khot
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January 28th, 2007 at 6:34 am
wow..tomyam ..my flavourite food! I like to use leman glass too..besides cooking, I put it in car as air fresher oso..:lol: ..
January 28th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
i love lemongrass :) however in trinidad it is a long flat leaf … isn’t that odd?:) i would love to try yours one day :)
January 28th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Is “culinary herb” different from regular herb?
January 28th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
I like the lemony fragrance! Need to get some soon :)
January 29th, 2007 at 12:45 am
i remember having to cut them from the garden when mum needs it. the long leaves are sharp and cut me at times when I am not careful. have to use mum’s garden cutter scissors then can cut the thick stalk from the ground. :)
talk about fresh herbs, snip them 1 min later use them. haha…
January 29th, 2007 at 8:50 am
Hi Msaufong, thanks for coming back! I missed you! Post your recipes with lemon grass lei…
Trinigourmet - that’s interesting. Thanks for sharing.
DF - Some herbs cannot be used for cooking. They are either inedible or used only for medicinal purposes (e.g. aloe, hellebore, foxglove, lobelia, mistletoe and deadly nightshade (belladonna)). You nearly got me on this one!
Tiga! Ya.. and make Tom Yum Soup? :)
KM - You are so lucky!
January 29th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
[…] Yich of Sim Cooks uses one of my favourite ingredients lemongrass which chops up and bashes with the back of her knife to make Tom Yum Goong (Prawns) Soup. “Lemon grass is also known by the name Citronella. Citronella oil is used in soaps, as a mosquito repellent in insect sprays and candles, and also in aromatherapy. It is known to have a calming effect that relieves insomnia or stress.” […]
January 29th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I often just make tea with lemongrass. i find the smell so evocative and reinds me of the street food in Hanoi and other parts of Asia. Thanks for joining WHB#67 on the other side of the International Date Line. Cheers!
January 30th, 2007 at 5:32 am
What a fantastic post. This is one of my favorite Thai dishes, but I’ve never made it myself. I love the captions on your photos.
January 30th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Hi Ed, thanks for hosting this week’s WHB. Tea with lemongrass sounds interesting - we can call it iced lemongrass tea? :)
Thanks Kalyn for your comment and encouragement!
February 3rd, 2007 at 4:46 pm
[…] - 6 chicken thighs - 4 tbsp yellow curry powder - 1 pc galangal, 1 inch thick - 1 stalk lemongrass (only use the whitish part) - 2 tbsp cooking oil - 1 cup coconut milk - 1 tsp sugar - 1/2 tsp salt […]
February 4th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Do you know where could I buy a pandan leave with roots that I could plant in my yard.??? Thanks
February 4th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Sorry Mag, I don’t know, cos so far I have only bought frozen pandan leaves.