Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken

[csziggy]

This year for the first time in decades I'm growing my own herbs. Today's experiment with herbs was Lemongrass Chicken. I was happy to find this recipe at https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/vietnamese-lemongrass-chicken

Far too many lemongrass recipes also include hot peppers - something that I can't eat at all. This one has a lovely, lemony flavor and is easy to make. It calls for putting the chicken on skewers and grilling it - I didn't want to bother with that so I just dumped the chicken and marinade into a large chef's pan and cooked until done. Served over brown rice, it was great! We had green salad with tomatoes to complete our meal.

Our lemongrass is only about two feet tall so the bottom white parts that are used in the recipe were not very big. I used more of them. I saved the tops, cut them into about one inch pieces and made tea with some of them. Delicious!

[RestoreAmerica2020]

1. Oh my..now my favorite! Thanks will try this weekend those kabobs look

..scrumptous--will make extra recipe for younger son ..so he can take with him on Sat., when he visits.

[csziggy]

2. Oh, I do recommend making extras!

I wish I had made double, but with just the two of us, even with only one and a half pounds of chicken - recipe calls for two pounds - we should have a second dinner out of the leftovers. If my husband wants more to eat, he's got goulash leftovers from his Sunday dinner that I can't eat - his friend that cooks dinner for their crowd on Sundays put hot peppers in the goulash.

My next fresh herb test will be Rosemary Pork Chops. I've made similar before but not with fresh, homegrown rosemary.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. Looks killer, I love lemongrass ... esp. in Tom Kha Gai (Thai) Soup

which is about my favorite soup in the world when made well.

Which is really hard to do at home because it's hard to get coconut milk that's fresh enough to make this soup really taste good. Not even the kind the carton (rather than can) tastes fresh enough to me. I use fresh galanga root, fresh keffir lime leaves, fresh lemongrass, and it's GOOD ... but the Thai restaurants just make it better than you possibly can cause they get fresh coconut milk ... and I've tried SO MANY brands of store-bought coconut milk, it's never the same as the best stuff at a good Thai place.

It's usually expensive but it's heaven in a bowl.

[csziggy]

4. Not sure I'd like that soup

I have this aversion to coconut. I've tried that nasty dried stuff, fresh coconut meat, fresh coconut milk, coconut oil, and other varieties. Something about the flavor is just not right to me. Too bad since I know so many recipes call for it to add another layer of flavor.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

5. I don't really like coconut taste that much either, but Tom Kha Gai is heavily flavored

of lemongrass, galangal root (which is subtly like ginger but milder), and keffir lime.

It comes together fabulously and doesn't 'taste like coconut' or I wouldn't like it as much as I do

[csziggy]

6. I'll have to look for it next time we go out for Asian

Which we don't do too often anymore since most of the places around here are buffet style.

I was hoping to get some ginger and turmeric growing but my husband bought supermarket roots rather than going to an Asian grocery like I recommended. Out of $10 worth of both, I think we might have one sprout of turmeric. I probably won't get a harvest until next year.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

7. Turmeric is also a wonderful spice :)

And I don't do Asian buffet, like ... ever.

Gotta get the Tom Kha Gai at a good Thai sit-down place, made fresh

[csziggy]

8. Oh, I love turmeric

That's why I'd like to grow it!

Actually I probably have a nice batch of turmeric and edible ginger under the oak tree next to the house. Problem is, the pinecone ginger has intermingled so it would be a pain to dig and dig to sort through the roots. Plus, from somewhere, a white blooming ginger is now in the mix and spreading rapidly.

We bought a fake (resin) half barrel to plant edible ginger and turmeric in this year so it stayed separate and under control. Once it cools off a bit, I may send my husband out to dig around the markers where I planted turmeric and edible ginger several years ago - I bet he will find a bunch out there - and I can plant some of them in my barrel to make them easier to harvest!