You can prepare this delicious Thai-inspired Spicy Lemongrass Shrimp in around a half hour.
And since a neighbor recently asked me how to prepare lemongrass in a recipe, I thought this dish might make a terrific primer.
When choosing your lemongrass at the market, it’s best to pick bunches of thinner stalks. The stalks should be a bright green color and look fresh, the outer skin should not be dried out like a dead outer coating of a plant. Even if you’ve never used lemongrass before this is a common sense method to use when purchasing.
Peel off any outer leaves. Cut off the end stems. Cut off the tops of the sturdy stalks leaving about two-thirds of the stalk. The bottom two-thirds of the stalk is what you chop up for use. If you make your own stocks you can also toss the leftover top stems right into the stock pot.
Lots of people have tasted lemongrass in Thai or other southeast Asian cuisines and it certainly imparts a lovely lemon flavor to dishes pairing well with a variety of complementary ingredients.
The thing about lemongrass is that it is fibrous. People that are used to this in dishes will simply eat around it, others no so acquainted may plain spit it out due to its tough texture so it important to break down the stalks as much as possible. The other alternative is to strain the liquid before serving.
To begin you could use the back of a cleaver to flatten the stalk out a bit, much like you would crushing garlic before removing the skin. Next, you chop it finely, and then some more.
Before throwing it into a mini food processor with a bit of water or stock and letting the processor run for around a minute.
Now, the lemongrass is ready to be used in your recipe.
Spicy Lemongrass Shrimp & how to prepare lemongrass
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds large sized shrimp, peeled, de-veined, patted dry with paper toweling
- 2-3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped lemongrass
- 1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup fresh sno peas, strings detached
- 1 fresh red hot pepper, optional
- Thai basil leaves for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Warm large saute pan on low heat, add oil, swirl around to coat all around
- Tumble in red onion, stir and cook for around three minutes to soften.
- Add in the garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and red pepper flakes, cook another three minutes.
- Increase heat to medium, toss in the shrimp, cook, for two minutes shaking pan after each minute Drop in the sno peas, stir to combine with pan ingredients, continuing to cook until shrimp are pink and cooked through, another two to three minutes.
- Arrange shrimp onto plates and serve hot straight away.
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