How to prepare lemongrass (and a Vietnamese Chilli Chicken recipe)

Spice expert John Gregory-Smith shows you how to prepare and use lemongrass at home. Then you can use your new found skills to create John’s vibrant Vietnamese Chicken with Chili and Lemongrass recipe, with an exciting yet harmonious blend of spices.

A passion for spices
‘Spices are my favourite things: I love talking about them, cooking with them and eating them. I have always been passionate about them, and have spent the last 10 years travelling all over the world to learn everything I can about all the different types. Spices have been used in kitchens for thousands of years, and they are as relevant today as they have always been. They have an amazing history; America was even discovered because of them! My Mighty Spice Cookbook is an introduction to cooking with the spices I love so much, to show you how easy and delicious they are to use.’

Cooking with lemongrass

Lemongrass, as its name suggests, has a delicious, earthy lemony flavour, and is native to India and Sri Lanka. This citrusy spice goes hand in hand with coconut milk and is used to flavour all sorts of curries, soups, stir-frys, marinades and even teas and desserts all over Asia. The strongly scented oil is used as a mosquito repellent and a natural preservative, which is so effective that it’s even put on ancient papyrus manuscripts to help preserve them for generations to come.

A perennial grass, lemongrass grows in thick clumps with a fat stalk and a tall wispy top. All the flavour is in the stalk, so you want to look for lovely fat, pale-coloured stalks of lemongrass and avoid anything that looks tired and shrivelled. The fresh lemongrass will keep its flavour for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.

You can buy lemongrass fresh, dried (which needs to be soaked for a few hours before being used), powdered and in brine (which is very soft so you can just chop it up as desired). However, I have to say, for me, the point of lemongrass is the wonderful fresh flavour it gives, and I feel that only the fresh version delivers this.

How to prepare lemongrass
Lemongrass is a tough spice that you need to prepare properly so you don’t get any woody shards in your delicious meal. The first way to prepare your lemongrass is to simply bash the fat ends of the stalks with a spoon, add the stalks to whatever you’re making and then fish them out before serving. This way you get all the flavour and none of the texture.

The second way is to remove the really tough outer leaves and cut off the tip at the fat end. Then, starting at the fat end, finely slice the lemongrass into rings. You will see a purple band in the rings as you slice; once these stop discard the rest, as it will be too tough to eat. Finely chop the sliced rings or, alternatively, use a mini food processor to chop them up. This method is perfect for stir-frys, curry pastes and salad dressings.

Spicing up you bookshelf the Mighty Spice Cookbook will take you on a culinary journey across the globe – with 100 inspiring recipes from the Far East, North Africa and Central America.

Mighty Spice Cookbook gives you fast and vibrant dishes with no more than 5 spices for each recipe.

Discover how John redefines cooking with spices