Lemongrass is very common in Vietnamese cuisine. It is considered as a mild diuretic, tonic and stimulant. It’s very fibrous so lemongrass needs to be finely chopped.
This particular recipe combines lemongrass with fried tofu.
Lemongrass is quite expensive in stores and it sold by bulk of 5 stalks. It’s a perennial. I asked my husband about it and he started to grow 4 "bushes" last year and we keep getting some, which is very convenient.
1. Info for Lemongrass Tofu
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 6
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Lemongrass Tofu
- 1 block tofu, firm
- 2 stalk fresh lemongrass
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1-½ Tbs sugar
- 1 Tbs gray salt
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 5 Tbs canola oil
- 1 serrano or jalapeno green pepper, sliced
3. Directions:
- Cut the piece of tofu into 1/4 to 1/2-inch even slices. Pour the oil into a big pan, add the sliced serrano peppers and cook until they soften and change color a bit. Remove the pepper slices from the pan and set aside in a plate. The reason for cooking the serrano peper first is to provide a nice aroma to the oil. Pan fry the slices until slightly golden. Don’t overcook the pieces or they’ll start to get hard. The tofu should still be moist and able to absorb all the lemongrass later. Transfer all the tofu to a paper towel and let it cool down.
- Cut the pieces of tofu into very thin shreds. Set aside on a plate.
- Wash the lemongrass. Remove all the white powder off of the leaves. Cut into extremely thin slices using a chef knife. In a mortar and pestle, grind the thin slices of lemongrass and then transfer and mix everything using a mini food processor. It should turn into a fine moist powder. Transfer in a bowl. Add the sugar, salt and chili powder.
- In a wok, add about 2 Tbs of the serrano infused oil from the tofu used earlier. Heat the pan. Add the minced cloves of garlic and cook until it is slightly golden. Bring the heat to the highest setting, add the chopped tofu and 2/3 of the quantity of the lemongrass mixture. Stir constantly and cook for about 5 minutes until the color changes and all the lemongrass has stuck to the pieces of tofu. Once the tofu is golden, add the remaining lemongrass tofu and the sliced serrano peppers.
- Serve with steamed jasmine rice.
- Enjoy!
