How do you cook with lemongrass?

[Anonymous]

I saw a recipe for lemongrass paste but the stick is so hard, cutting it is a challenge let alone trying to mince it. It smells and tastes amazing, I'd love to incorporate it into a dish somehow.

[Anonymous]

Pull off the really hard outside parts. Cut it in pieces and bend it a few times. Throw in liquid. Discard before serving.

[Anonymous]

Buy a tube of it in the produce section. Add to stir fry. So good.

[Anonymous]

As mentioned above, throw away the tough outer leaves. Then mince using a fine grater/ micro-planer

[Anonymous]

I don't think I'd destroy my grater on lemon grass. If you need paste, remove the outer leaves, rough chop, and then pulse in a blender or food processor, or grind with a mortar and pestle.

Or, if that's too much of a hassle and the recipe calls for a longer cooking time in liquid, just cut very big pieces of lemongrass, let them cook in the cooking liquid, and pull out the pieces before you serve.

[Anonymous]

Unless ground very fine as part of a curry paste, lemongrass paste can have an unpleasant, gritty texture due to fibers.
To flavor a dish, smash the bulb part gently. I use a meat mallet. Then tie in a bundle using the stalks, add to pot and remove before serving.

[Anonymous]

You can buy lemongrass paste in the freezer section too.

[Anonymous]

I use it by steeping in the cooking liquid and discarding, like a bay leaf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy a tube of it in the produce section. Add to stir fry. So good.

This sounds like the easiest option. Going to check it out

[Anonymous]

The tube is ok but not great when new. I toss it after the first use though. Its a bit like bottled garlic; no matter how much you really want it to taste like fresh garlic, it just never will.

[Anonymous]

You chop them into small minced pieces or blend them. Rub it on raw meat and add salt. Let it set for a few hours. Stir fry it, with high heat-like a dry stir fried. Add fish sauce or soy sauce or nothing else. Vietnamese cuisine.

You know how sometimes you stir fry meat and the juice comes out - you want to minimize that with lemongrass.

Or you can use the entire stalk cut into pieces and cook it with coconut milk/curry broth. You can do many other things but this is the easiest. Thai cuisine.

You can't eat the stalks but when minced so small, you can eat it.

[Anonymous]

I eat a lot of Vietnamese food. Yes, you do get used to the little woody bits. It's so delicious it's worth it. Fiber!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I eat a lot of Vietnamese food. Yes, you do get used to the little woody bits. It's so delicious it's worth it. Fiber!

Can't stand the woody bits. I like the steep/discard like a bay leaf approach.