A quick, easy and delicious Vietnamese-style lemongrass beef!
I’m a Fan of Vietnamese-style lemongrass spices! In the summer I like to make a lemongrass grilled chicken and just about any time of the year this lemongrass beef is a treat! This dish is as simple as minced meat with lemongrass spices. The Star of the show is lemongrass, which, together with onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili peppers, limes, fish sauces, coconut sugar, coriander, mint and basil, provides the awesome aroma of lemons. Hot peppers, limes, fish sauce and sugar give this recipe an awesome mixture of spices, sour, salty and sweet, which, in combination with all other flavors and aromas, are simply magical! I like to serve this lemongrass beef with Vietnamese style pickled Jalapenos, carrots and/or Daikon radish and this combination works well in rice bowls, on pasta, in sandwiches, Quesadillas and even Tacos! No matter how you like this Vietnamese lemongrass beef, it’s super quick, easy and delicious!
A quick, easy and delicious Vietnamese-style lemongrass beef!
Ingredient
1 Pound minced meat (or pork or chicken)
3 lemongrass stalks, peeled and chopped
1 shallot (or small onion), finely diced
1 tablespoon chopped/grated Garlic
1 tablespoon Galangal (or Ginger), grated/hacked
2 teaspoons cumin, roasted and ground
1/4 Teaspoon ground Turmeric
1 birds Eye chili pepper, thinly sliced (or chili sauce to taste)
1 lime, zest and juice
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped Mint
1 tablespoon chopped basil
Direction
Cook the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat until cooked and break it up during cooking before draining the excess fat.
Add lemongrass, shallot, garlic, galangal, cumin, turmeric and bird’s eye chilli, mix well and cook for 3 minutes.
Add lime, fish sauce and sugar, mix well, season and season as desired.*
Stir in the cilantro, mint and basil and enjoy!
- Option: if you can’t find lemongrass, use 1 tablespoon of lemon zest.
- Option: * there should be a nice balance of spicy chillies as the crow flies, tart lime juice, salty fish sauce and sweet palm sugar, but you can adjust it to the exact balance you like the most!
- Option: Serve the lemongrass beef over rice, pasta, sandwiches, Quesadillas, Tacos, etc.
Nutritional information: calories 352, fat 23G (saturated 8g, Trans 1g), cholesterol 80mg, sodium 789mg, carbohydrates 15g (fiber 1G, sugar 6G), protein 21g