Lemongrass-Xả

Lemongrass is a herb looked like grass and widely use in Vietnamese cooking as well as medical.  It has a light, fresh, citrus aroma with earthy undertones. We can buy it fresh or frozen at any Oriental stores. I hardly cooked with frozen one.  A medium size stalk is yield about 3-4 Tablespoons.

They can be sold by weight or by bundles. If you can pick- medium size is best.  These are not too fresh but still good to use.

Trim the stem ends, remove  dry,brownist, bruises outer layer.

Chop the stem ends higher if needed. Discard tough stem ends.

 Trim off the the leaves below the connections between leaves and stem and discard.

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 Cut the stems up to 6 inches. Save the tops for making soup.

Thinly slice the white tender stems with a vegetable slicer crosswise (again the fiber) or smash them first with a knife, or meat tenderizer, etc. and use a knife to slice them thinly.

Then finely chop lemongrass slices with a knife or food processor or pound/smash them into pulp in a mortar and pestle.