Lemon Grass

This looks a little like a hard-skinned, elongated spring onion, with fibrous, grey-green leaves. It adds an intense, but not sharp, lemon flavour and scent to cooking. You can buy it fairly easily from the greengrocer’s sections in supermarkets and from specialist stores. When a recipe specifies chopped or sliced, then the bulky part is the bit to use. Trim the end and slice finely. One blade or stalk should give about 3 tablespoons finely-sliced lemon grass. Alternatively, the whole stalk can be bashed hard with a knife handle to release all the flavour and then added while cooking; don’t forget to take it out before serving. Stalks will last for about 2–3 weeks in the refrigerator. You could use chopped lemon balm leaves or grated lemon zest instead, but you would not get an authentic flavour. Powdered lemon grass is also available; it is often called sereh powder.