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Thursday, April 01, 2010

Braised Squash with Lemongrass

Simple ingredients, combined in a delicious, easy to make dish for weekday meals.

braised squash with lemongrass house of annie

Now that Annie and I are both working, we have a helper, Jessie, who picks the kids up after school a few days a week, brings them home, and tidies up the house a bit before we come back from work. She has been a real blessing to us! Jessie was recommended to us by one of our friends, who buys lunch dishes from her. It turns out that she is also a pretty good cook!

One evening, Jessie let us try a sample of her braised squash with lemongrass. It was so delicious! When she told us how easy it was to make, we decided we would have to try to make it ourselves.

The following Saturday, we picked up a squash from one of the vendors at the community market. These hard squash were kind of like long butternut squash.

Squashes for Sale at Stutong Market

squashes at stutong market

The next time Jessie came to our house, she showed us how to make the dish.

Braised Squash with Lemongrass Recipe

Ingredients:

1 kg hard squash, seeded, peeled and cut into chunks
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks lemongrass (white part only), minced
1 tsp chicken bouillon or salt
2 Tbsp oil
water

Squash Chunks and Minced Aromatics

diced squashminced shallots lemongrass and garlic

Method:

1. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a wok over medium heat. Fry the aromatics for 1 minute until fragrant.

frying minced lemongrass and shallots

2. Add the squash and stir to combine.
3. Add water to the wok until the squash are almost covered.
4. Mix in 1 tsp chicken bouillon or salt to taste.

braising squash

5. Bring the water to a boil, then lower heat, cover, and simmer until the squash are just fork-tender, approximately 15 minutes.
6. Remove the cover and let the remaining water boil off.
7. Plate up and garnish with chopped cilantro or green onions.

Braised Squash with Lemongrass

braised squash with lemongrass

The flavor of the lemongrass is so profound in this dish. It is incredibly easy to make, so much easier than our other squash dishes. The only dish easier than this one would be our Kabocha No Nimono recipe. I do hope you get to try it!

Aloha, Nate

8 Comments:

Joanne said...

There is nothing that I like more than stumbling upon a new squash recipe! This looks fantastic.

Sharlene T. said...

I ditto Joanne! Gonna try me some of this, this weekend! Thanks for sharing and have a happy Easter1

Blessed Homemaker said...

I cook this dish with dried shrimps but minus lemongrass. Will try your version one day.

Single Guy Ben said...

Hmm, sounds interesting. I haven't had much luck cooking with lemongrass because I always feel the taste is so subtle. But I might try this and see if the flavor is pronounced as you said. (Or maybe it's just the lemongrass we get here in the Bay Area?)

Food Gal said...

I agree with Single Guy Ben. I find the lemongrass here to be pretty subtle in taste. Hmm, me wonders if I should try growing my own to see if I can up the pungency factor. ;)

Babe_KL said...

the lemongrass must hv impart a very nice fragrant to the sweet squash! nice.

Nate @ House of Annie said...

@all - thanks for your comments!

@Joanne - thank you!

@Sharlene - let us know how it came out for you!

@Blessed Homemaker - ooh, dried shrimp sounds tasty.

@Single Guy Ben - Have you tried the Gourmet Garden herb pastes? They have a lemongrass one which is very nice, and not fibrous at all. You should be able to find it in your local supermarket.

@Carolyn - we tried growing lemongrass in San Jose. It did very well in sandy soil and afternoon sun. Not so good in clay soil with morning sun.

@babe_kl - yes, it was nice!

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

This is a new and interesting way of cooking squash: I'm going to try this! Looks great!