Lemongrass and Pandan Iced Tea
Nam Dakrai Bai Teuy
Iced tea infused with lemongrass and pandan leaf
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Serves
- 4
- Heat
- mild
Lemongrass tea is familiar to most people, but pairing it with pandan leaf is what gives this iced drink its distinctly Thai character. Pandan's flavor resists easy description — some taste vanilla, others fresh-cut grass — and boiled together with pounded lemongrass, the two herbs balance each other into something more complex than either alone. Served very sweet over crushed ice in the typical Thai style, it works equally well left unsweetened or served hot, making it a flexible drink to have on hand alongside a meal.
Ingredients
- 6-8 Lemongrass stalks (pounded with a mallet, cut into pieces)
- 4 Whole pandan leaves (cut into pieces)
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 liters Water
Directions
- Pound the lemongrass with a mallet until well broken up, then cut into smaller pieces. Cut the pandan leaves into pieces that fit easily into your pot.
- Boil about half the water, then add the lemongrass and pandan leaf. Boil hard for about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Scoop out as much of the leaves and fibers as possible before adding the sugar.
- Keep the heat on and stir in the sugar until fully dissolved. Turn off the heat and add the remaining cold water to reach a total of 2 liters.
- Let the tea cool to room temperature.
- Strain through a cloth or very fine mesh strainer to remove small plant particles.
- Refrigerate in a bottle or pitcher with a tight lid.
- Serve over crushed ice, garnished with a thin stalk of lemongrass.
Notes
Pound the lemongrass thoroughly before boiling — breaking open the fibers releases far more of its citrus flavor into the water than simply cutting it into pieces would.
Substitutions
If pandan leaf isn't available, simply leave it out and add a few extra stalks of lemongrass for a straightforward lemongrass iced tea instead.