A quick, easy and tasty Vietnamese style lemongrass beef!
I am a fan of Vietnamese style lemongrass seasoning! In the summer I enjoy making a lemongrass grilled chicken and pretty much any time of the year, this lemongrass beef is a tasty treat! This dish is as simple as ground meat cooked with a lemongrass seasoning. The star of the show is lemongrass, which provides the amazing aroma of lemons, along with onion, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chilies, lime, fish sauces, coconut sugar, cilantro, mint, and basil. The chilies, lime, fish sauce, and sugar provides this recipe with an amazing blend of spicy, sour, salty and sweet, which, when combined with all of the other flavours and aromatics, are simply magical! I like to serve this lemongrass beef with Vietnamese style pickled jalapenos, carrots and/or daikon radish and this combo works well in rice bowls, over noodles, in sandwiches, quesadillas and even tacos! No matter how you enjoy this Vietnamese lemongrass beef, it’s super quick, easy and tasty!
20 Minute Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef
Prep Time:5 minutes Cook Time:15 minutes Total Time:20 minutes Servings: 4
A quick, easy and tasty Vietnamese style lemongrass beef!
ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef (or pork or chicken)
- 3 stalks lemongrass, peeled and minced
- 1 shallot (or small onion), finely diced
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced/grated
- 1 tablespoon galangal (or ginger), grated/minced
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric, ground
- 1 birds eye chili, thinly sliced (or chili sauce to taste)
- 1 lime, zest and juice
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
- 1 tablespoon mint, chopped
- 1 tablespoon basil, chopped
directions
- Cook the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through, breaking it apart as it cooks, before draining off any excess grease.
- Add the lemongrass, shallot, garlic, galangal, cumin, turmeric, and birds eye chili, mix well and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the lime, fish sauce, and sugar, mix well, taste and adjust the seasoning to taste.*
- Mix in the cilantro, mint, and basil, and enjoy!
Option: If you cannot find lemongrass use 1 tablespoon lemon zest.
Option: *There should be a nice balance of spicy from the birds eye chilies, tart from the lime juice, salty from the fish sauce, and sweet from the palm sugar but you can customize it to the exact balance that you enjoy most!
Option: Serve the lemongrass beef over rice, noodles, in sandwiches, in quesadillas, in tacos, etc.
