A delicious Lao recipe that makes a great use of lemongrass. A stalk of lemongrass is stuffed with a ground chicken herb filling and then deep fried. An exotic and interesting appetizer. Think lemongrass chicken skewers. Gluten Free and Dairy Free too.
What are your thoughts on lemongrass? Love it, hate it? Never even heard of it? I for one, love it.
For those of you not familiar with it it is a long stemmed herb, hailing from India and tropical Asia and used in teas, soups, curries, stir fries, you name it. With a citrusy flavor, there’s really nothing quite like it.
And luckily for me it is added to so many different South East Asian dishes in so many different ways.
The other day at a cooking class in Laos, at the Tamarind Cooking School, I saw a whole new way of using lemongrass. Using it as a base for the chicken stuffing. Think lemongrass chicken skewers where the skewer is the lemongrass stalk itself.
Fascinating.
How does this work you ask? Well, essentially you make many long cuts into the lemongrass stalk, going right through it but not making the cut all the way down to the end. So you start with one side and make a 4 inch long cut, turn the lemongrass 90 degrees and make another cut, and continue to make numerous cuts all the way around. Then you squeeze the two ends of the lemongrass towards eachother, which forms a lantern basket from the cuts that you’ve made. This is where the minced chicken stuffing goes. And now your lemongrass chicken skewers are reading to be cooked in oill.
Brilliant if you ask me.
Then off to the deep fryer this goes.
The final result? An exotic and gorgeous looking meal. You remove the stuffing from around the lemongrass and dip it into a peanut based sauce. The Lao have their own peanut dip but don’t worry the Thai version can be used as well. Truly a stand out meal that has an incredible presentation as well. Lemongrass chicken skewers for the win!
Perfect to serve to your dinner guests who will without a doubt be impressed by this exotic and intricate dish. I think this would work equally as well on the grill too!
Do you have any other creative uses for lemongrass? Do share.
On another note today is my dad’s birthday! So happy happy birthday to the best dad ever!
A delicious Lao recipe that makes a great use of lemongrass. A stalk of lemongrass is stuffed with a ground chicken herb filling and then deep fried. An exotic and interesting appetizer. Think lemongrass chicken skewers
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 4-5 green onions roughly chopped
- small bunch of cilantro chopped
- 2 kaffir lime leaves
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup ground chicken beef, pork,
- 2 stalks lemongrass outside leaves removed
- 1 egg lightly beaten with dash of salt
- 1-2 cups oil for frying
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In a mortar pound garlic, green onions, cilantro, kaffir lime leaves and salt. When a paste forms add the ground chicken and continue to pound until combined.
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Using a sharp knife and starting 1/2 inch from the base of the lemongrass make a cut right though the stalk for 2-3 inches. Rotate the lemongrass 90 degrees and repeat. Continue to make cuts all around the lemongrass stalk.
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Use your thumbs to open the cage and make a basket shape out of the lemongrass. Insert a spoonful of filling at a time, making sure that it is inside the lemongrass basket, until half the filling is in one lemongrass stalk. Repeat with the other lemongrass stalk.
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Dip stuffed lemongrass in beaten egg.
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Heat oil over medium high heat and fry lemongrass until filling is cooked through.
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Drain on paper towels and serve with peanut sauce.
Recipe from Tamarind Cooking School
BRee says
How creative and looks delicious too!
Christina says
Shouldn’t you be giving credit to Tamarind? http://www.tamarindlaos.com/luang-prabang/ or to whichever cooking class/restaurant you attended… but I am going to assume it was from Tamarind.
It sucks that you write this recipe without pointing out where it came from (not just a mention that you got it while in Laos)… An actual link to their website… and actual shout out to their awesome cooking. That would be nice.
Vicky says
At the bottom of the recipe I had a link back to Tamarind cooking school – I did just notice the link is not correctly directing to their site, so I have fixed it. I have also added a link in the text where I mention the cooking school. I see where you are coming from, and agree I should have linked to their site when I mentioned the cooking class that I took.
Sharon says
Are you able to eat both the filling and the surrounding strands of lemongrass together or must the filling be removed from its lemongrass ‘cage’? Nonetheless, it’s a very pretty dish. Nicely done.
Vicky says
You end up eating around the lemongrass “cage” – technically you could eat the lemongrass too, but we ended up taking the filling out as we ate. Thanks!