Cough, cough… you’ll be hearing a fair bit of this in the current season. But don’t “hawk tuah” – take a trip to the local market instead. Or head to your balcony or garden if you’ve got it growing there. We’re talking about lemon grass, also known as chai patti or gavthi cha.
A refreshing and tasty flavour ingredient at any time of the year, lemon grass gains particular significance at the time of damp and cold weather. A blade or two of the grass, properly washed and chopped up, boiled for 10-15 minutes to make an infusion, helps with inflammation, congestion and feverishness. As children when we had a touch of fever, we were traditionally given a “kaadha” or infusion of lemon grass leaves, boiled along with ginger and tulsi – both excellent cough-and-cold fighters.
Lemon grass is known to be a robust anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, which is why it is so widely used to treat cough, cold and fever. It is also a diuretic, and helps in digestive issues. Lemon grass is also believed to be an anti-oxidant, though more research is pending on this aspect.
How to grow it
You can buy the herb at any nursery. Or, if you have purchased the stems from a vegetable vendor or supermarket, place some stems in water, and change the water every day to prevent mould from forming. After some days you will see rootletss emerging from the base of the stems. When they grow till about 2 inches in length, plant them in the pot of your choice or in the ground. You don’t have to do much to nourish the lemon grass plant – just water it regularly and remove any dead/dry leaves. You now have fresh lemon grass at hand for your chai or medicinal infusion.
Cooking
Besides tea, in which the leaves of lemon grass are used, those of us who have tried Thai cuisine must have noticed the distinctive taste of lemon grass in most of the dishes. In Thai dishes, it is the thick stems of lemon grass that are used. Like the leaves, the stems are too tough to be edible, and are usually chopped up and then discarded from the final dish. Or the tender portion of the stem is sliced or minced fine so it mingles with the dish.
Tom Yum Soup
Considering that soup is the go-to comfort dish of the monsoon season, try making this easy tom yum soup using lemon grass.
Ingredients:
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
½ cup carrots, sliced
½ cup French beans, sliced
(You can increase the quantities of the vegetables if you like.)
2-3 stems of lemon grass, roughly smashed to release the flavour
1-2 green chillies, slit lengthwise (do not slice or chop) or more, if you like it hot
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and smashed
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine
1 onion, sliced
2 tsp soya sauce
1 litre water
½ tsp sugar (optional)
Lime juice to taste
Chopped coriander leaves to taste
Method:
Sauté the onion and garlic in a little oil. When onions are soft, add the vegetables and sauté until softened. You can add a dash of salt at this stage, but go easy as you will be adding salty soya sauce later. Add the lemon grass, chillies and ginger, and add the water. If using sugar, add this now. It helps to balance the flavours. You can also use jaggery or palm jaggery. Bring to a boil and simmer until the vegetable are cooked tender. Add soya sauce, and simmer for a minute more. Add lime juice as per your taste, and garnish with the coriander leaves. While serving you can pick out and discard the lemon grass, chillies and ginger.
Non-vegetarians can add a cup of small prawns or boneless chicken to this soup.
Ella, Ella, Not Citronella!
Don’t confuse lemon grass with other similar-sounding plants such as lemon verbena or citronella. A lot of people think lemon grass is citronella, and vice versa. But citronella is a completely different plant (not a grass), and the chief difference is that citronella repels mosquitoes – lemon grass doesn’t.
In fact citronella, or Cymbopogon nardus, is useful only for this property – it’s not edible, even to animals, and is considered an invasive species. It doesn’t grow easily in India, however, though you can buy it from nurseries (you may also find it under the name of “odomas”). If you decide to grow it you will have to take care to ensure it doesn’t wither away or dry out.
