This is a photo of the lemon grass plant we have growing in our herb garden.  It has basil planted around it.

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Lemon Grass-Shrimp Soup Recipe

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                       Lemon Grass-Shrimp Soup

Recipe By     :  Wandee Young and Byron Ayanoglu
Serving Size  :  4   Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    :

Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
4 cups water 
1 stick lemon grass
4 lime leaves (or 2 tablespoons lime juice) 
1 inch galangal root (or ginger root) 
2 fresh hot chilies 
3 tablespoons fish sauce 
1 teaspoon sugar 
1 1/2 teaspoons chili paste 
2 ounces button mushrooms, quartered 
16 large shrimps, shelled and deveined (10 oz)
3 tablespoons lime juice
Fresh coriander leaves

1. Heat 4 cups water in a soup pot to boiling.

2. Smash lemon grass with the flat of a chef's knife once, and then 
cut into 1-inch pieces; tear lime leaves into thirds; and slice 
galangal into thin rounds. Reserve these ingredients together.

3. Crush the fresh chilies and cut in half. Reserve separately.

4. When water has boiled, add the reserved lemon grass/galangal/lime 
leaves. Boil for 1 minute. Add fish sauce, sugar and chili paste. Boil 
for another 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and boil for 2 minutes. Add shrimps 
and lime juice (3 tablespoons plus the other 2 tablespoons if you haven't 
used the lime leaves) and lower heat to medium-high. Cook for 2 minutes, 
just until the shrimps have turned white and springy. Transfer to a soup 
tureen, decorate with fresh coriander leaves and serve immediately.

NOTES:  

Quick and easy, this soup depends on its aromatics for its ethereal 
allure. The barely poached (definitely undercooked) shrimps, however 
are what make it a treat.

A note about this and other soups: lemon grass, galangal root and lime 
leaves, the trio of flavors that give many Thai soups their distinctive 
taste are unchewable, but form dictates that they be left in the soup. 
It is then up to the soup slurpers to avoid eating them. Furthermore, 
though lemon grass is easy to find, galangal root and lime leaves are 
not so easy. They can be substituted with ginger root and lime juice 
respectively as indicated in the recipes.

Recipe from:

"Simply Thai Cooking"
 Wandee Young and Byron Ayanoglu
 Robert Rose, Inc.
 March 1996, ISBN 1-896503-18-7


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Notes:

Formatted in MasterCook by Art
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