Shazam: Instant Xa Bam!

Once a rare and exotic ingredient, lemon grass has now joined the ranks of convenience products. Instead of trimming, peeling, pounding and grinding the root yourself, you simply buy a carton of ground lemon grass from the freezer section of an Asian market. Stored in your own freezer, it’s ready for instant use in curry pastes and other aromatic foods.

You may need a language lesson to locate it though. The label on one brand reads Xa Bam. That’s Vietnamese for--you guessed it--minced lemon grass.