Lemongrass – the lemony fresh grass

Summer is finally here. Hot and sunny, according to my taste. This weather makes me crave something fresh. A recipe comes into my mind, which I first tried two years ago.

That year we had sown lemongrass in our garden in Ticino, which grew wonderfully. Since we were able to harvest so much of it at the end of summer, cooking with it became the obvious choice.  Unfortunately we had less success with it in the garden during the following years but it’s still worth a try.

I already knew the lemon mousse, but lemongrass fits wherever lemon fits. To make the whole thing even more exotic, I replaced the lemon juice with lime juice.

The gelatine leaves can of course be replaced by agar-agar, this way the mousse becomes vegetarian.

Lemongrass:

Lemongrass is a grass from Asia with thickened stalks and fibrous leaves that can reach a height of 2 meters.  It spreads an intense lemon aroma and is mainly used in Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian cuisine. It can be added, finely chopped, to soups and curry dishes and goes very well with chicken. Lemongrass remains fibrous even after cooking and should therefore not be eaten. Lemongrass is also suitable for preparing refreshing herbal teas or desserts. It is very popular in perfume production as well.

You can also use the hard stalks as skewers. For example, for minced meat or grilled prawns.

Here in Switzerland you will find the fresh stems in Asian shops and sometimes also at wholesale distributors. Dried lemongrass powder has a very strong flavour and should be used sparingly. Unfortunately, it also loses its taste quickly. Fresh is always preferable to dried. If you grow your own in the garden, you can freeze the stems and dry the leaves. If you find a stem with small roots on it to buy, you can put it in a glass of water at home, where it will grow roots. Then you can put it in a pot with soil, where it multiplies. Et voilà – your own lemongrass! ?

Here is the Lemongrass-Mousse Recipe

Lemongrass-Mousse

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Resting time in the fridge 2 hours hrs

Total Time 2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 2 dl water
• 2-3 stalks of lemongrass cut into small pieces
• 100 g sugar
• ½ Lime juice only
• 4 sheets of gelatine soaked in cold water or equivalent amount of agar-agar
• 2 egg whites beaten
• 3 dl whipped cream

Instructions

 

• Boil water and lemongrass together and simmer for about 5 minutes. Then dissolve the sugar in it.
  
• Remove the soaked gelatine leaves from the water, squeeze them out and slowly add them to the hot lemongrass water with a whisk, stirring constantly. (or use agar-agar according to instructions on the package)
• Pour everything through a sieve into a bowl. Place the bowl in a cool place until the mixture becomes slightly firm at the edges.
• Then stir again with a whisk. First mix in the whipped cream and then fold in the whipped egg whites.
• Cool the mixture again for about an hour and then enjoy!