It's not often that I attempt to cook a dish with dominant Asian flavors, so this was an exciting challenge for me.
The first step was to find a recipe that used poultry or just vegetables. I was a little fished out and needed to lower my mercury levels. Also, out of respect for my dining buddy, the recipe couldn't contain curry or coconut milk.
This one looked like a big winner.
Chicken in Lemongrass Sauce
Recommended ingredients (see my notes for my various omissions/substitutions)
12 ounces green Chinese long beans or green beans, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips
1 medium onion, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup minced lemongrass*
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (nam pla)*
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 cup chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
2 tablespoons spicy oyster sauce*
*Available at Asian markets and in some supermarkets.
Directions
1] Cook beans in large saucepan of boiling salted water just until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain.
2] Heat oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Add chicken, onion and garlic; stir-fry until chicken is partially cooked, about 4 minutes.
3] Add lemongrass and next 4 ingredients; stir 2 minutes.
4] Add beans, stock and oyster sauce; reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes longer.
5] Season with salt and pepper.
***
I made so many changes to the ingredients that it's worth creating a separate list:
Ingredients
Fresh, plain old string beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium onion, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup minced lemongrass leaves (chopped in my food processor)
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons regular oyster sauce
A dash of Sriracha sauce
Serve over white rice
I charged into this recipe, getting the beans started and then moving on to chopping the lemongrass. First I tried to use a knife. It didn't work so well. Then I put the cut leaves into my food processor. I processed. And processed. And processed. It took forever to turn the leaves into something that resembled a fine chop, and when I a piece in my mouth, it was like a sharp blade of grass and impossible to chew. When I tried to swallow it, it sort of clung to the back of my throat like a burr.
Perhaps the lemongrass would soften as it simmered? I moved on with the recipe.
In the meantime, though, I did a little Googling (maybe I should have done this first? Ah, hindsight) and found this:
To use fresh lemongrass, always cut off the lower bulb and remove tough, outer leaves. The main stalk (the yellow section) is mainly what is used in cooking.
Huh. Interesting. I had no such stalk. Just a bevy of those tough, outer leaves.
At this point, I figured this meal was D.O.A. and would be flavorful, perhaps, but entirely inedible.
Verdict: Turns out, the sauce was so good and the chicken so tender that the unchewable grass was almost a non-issue. We finished our plates. My husband even remarked that he liked the idea of the grass "cleaning his insides" ... a benefit I had not considered.
I wouldn't recommend cooking this meal the way I did, but I can imagine it would be excellent with the right ingredients.
Not a total failure. Just a lesson learned.
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