Black Pepper and Lemongrass Stir-fry Paste

Quick and easy stir-frying is so popular these days that you’ll want to keep this fragrant and versatile paste in your pantry always. It has a warm, mellow, mid-palate flavour because the black pepper and chilli are tempered by the fresh zing of lemongrass and lime, and it responds perfectly to the intense heat of wok cooking by releasing its flavour and aroma immediately. Use it when you stir-fry, to marinate food to be cooked on the barbecue, to spice up a soup, to toss with noodles in a variety of ways (as you will see in this chapter) or to mix with other chilli pastes for an even more intense flavour hit.