Lemongrass Curry Chicken:

As per my husband’s request, dinner of choice tonight is “lemongrass curry chicken”. He is such a curry lover and wants to eat curry at least once a week. The recipe originated from Vietnamese cuisine. You can see this dish on the menu of any Vietnamese or Thai Restaurant.

Lemongrass is native of Indian (aka – Takrai, Cymbopogon citrates, Bhustrina Sera, and Bai Mak Nao etc.). It is very popular in Thai and Vietnamese style cooking. Lemongrass fall under the type of aromatic herb and perennial (which means you only need to plant it once and it will comes back yearly). The light lemon flavor blends very well with garlic, curry powder, chilies and cilantro. Because of that, this herb has become very popular in the United States. Lemongrass can also be used for medicinal purposes. It considered as a type of diuretic (cure: Hypertension and Diabetes), toxic and stimulant. It’s also good for digestion, menstrual troubles and nausea.

The way I like to cook with Lemongrass is to dice them into fine pieces and mix with the meat of choice (i.e.: chicken, steak, pork chop etc.,) with diced garlic, salt and pepper. This can be done on BBQ, grill, roast or just stir fried in a wok. Meats that are coated with Lemongrass will bring out the lemony favor.

**Lala’s recipe:

Ingredients: (serving for 4)

·         1 ½ lbs of chicken breast

·         3 scallion of green onions

·         3 stalk of fresh lemongrass (diced) (frozen premade lemongrass will work)

·         ½ of English long cucumber

·         1 large tomato

·         1 small onion

·         1 tps of curry power (prefer Malaysian style)

·         1 clove of garlic

·         2 tbps of olive oil

·         ½ tps of soya sauce

·         ½ tps of fish sauce

·         1 can of instant chicken broth

·         1 pinch of salt

·         1 pinch of black pepper

·         A few shredded carrots and mango for garnish

Preparation:

Marinate the chicken with the curry power, ¼ tps of fish sauce, salt, black pepper for half an hour prior. Pan fried the garlic, onion and lemongrass in olive oil until sizzle. Put the marinated chicken in the wok. Stir fried it until cooked. Place the remaining spices with the chicken. Pour the can of chicken broth in, cover it and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. This can be served with rice or French bread of choice.  Bon Appétit!