lemon grass This aromatic dry-looking stalk, known as takrai in Thai, is used widely in Southeast Asian cooking. It is available fresh in Asian groceries, usually sold in small bundles. Dried lemon grass may be substituted, but it must be soaked for thirty minutes before using; it has less flavor, so use it only as a fallback. Substitute approximately one tablespoon dried lemon grass for each stalk of fresh called for. Stalks of fresh lemon grass look like dried-out sticks, but when sliced or crushed are very aromatic. Only two to three inches of the bulbous end are used, sometimes in large chunks, not meant to be eaten, or sometimes finely minced and pounded to a paste for curry paste. Fresh lemon grass is very easy to store: It keeps for several weeks in the refrigerator, drying out over time but not going bad. Lemon grass also roots easily, and it is fun to have in a kitchen garden in the summer, or growing inside in a pot in winter.
