Lemongrass is an amazing ingredient. It grows with the lowest of maintenance and yet we can make so many delicious dishes and drinks out of it. I don’t really have lemongrass growing in my back yard but I was walking by the organic section at the market and came across a packet of 8 for RM2. Sigh…it’s that….buy first, decide later moment. What to do with so much lemongrass?
Before they started sprouting their stalks and root, and believe me…they can in any condition…even without water….I remembered the Vietnamese. Lemongrass plays a major role in their cuisines so that’s the path I took for these pork loins. I don’t know if I can call them Vietnamese Pork Loins cos heck if I know anything bout Vietnamese food yet…but I made a quick marinade out of the lemongrass, some aromatics and the usual Asian suspects.
The taste was just right up my alley, sweet, spicy, sour and the right amount of saltiness. I’m pretty sure this marinade or rub goes well with chicken too and other cuts of pork. Since I still have lots of lemongrass left, I will make this marinade again with some other protein.
LEMONGRASS GRILLED PORK LOINS RECIPE
Ingredients;
2 pork loins (or you can use chops)
Marinade;
3 shallots
3 garlic cloves
3 lemongrass, the end bit with the stalks and root base trimmed off
1 thumb size piece of ginger
3 dried chillies, soaked in hot water for 5 mins, I kept the seeds in
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
a dash of white pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
Juice of 1 lime
Steps;
1. First, blend the shallots, garlic, ginger, chillies and lemongrass in a food processor till fine.
2. Add the liquids (fish sauce, light soy sauce, sunflower oil, lime juice) and also white pepper and sugar and blend again till you have a wet paste.
3. Place the loins in a bag together with the marinade. Rub it all over and leave it to sit in the fridge overnight or for 3 hours.
4. Heat your grill pan till it’s hot. Scrape away most of the chunky marinade because if you grill it along with them, they will burn quickly.
5. Grill the loins, 2 mins on first side and 1 min on the other. Let the meat rest covered in foil.
6. Eat just like that, or slice it up into strips and have it with plain rice and fried egg on top.
Enjoy!
Back 2 Back with
Lemongrass Roast Chicken Drumsticks
You can plant them in a pot. Nowadays, lemongrass is getting sooooo expensive. Gone are the days 20sen for 3.
Mine doesn’t grow as fast as I consume, hahahah. Sometimes still need to buy, but when I need to cook emergency dishes, There’s still some to harvest.
You can grow them with the balance that you have.
i do have like two pathetic stalks in a pot, not enough for what i wanted to do. 🙂
I have a huge pot of lemongrass growing like a weed outside the kitchen door. This recipe is perfect!
Hi Maureen, thanks for dropping by…..you can tweak the recipe and it goes well for bbqs too.