This kaffir lime, lemongrass and chilli butter is such a handy little kitchen ingredient. Use it in place of plain old butter in whatever you might be cooking.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Kaffir Lime, Lemongrass and Chilli Butter
So what does our flavoured butter taste like? It’s creamy, citrusy and as spicy as you want it to be. And naturally, given the kaffir lime and lemongrass, it’s highly aromatic.
Today’s post doesn’t need much explaining; its name pretty much describes what it is and what it contains. Flavoured butters like this one, are very useful to have in your freezer. Also called compound butter, they add a wonderful flavour to just about any dish you use them in. More of that below.
You may know that I’ve had a kaffir lime plant for almost 3 decades here in the UK, right? It’s one of those childhood South East Asian herbs I simply cannot do without. I get so many fruit off my 2 plants that I sometimes struggle to do justice to them.
Today’s flavoured chilli butter was a bit of an inspiration when I was trying to think outside the box with the many, many fruit I get.
This Chilli Butter Recipe
This homemade flavoured butter is a very easy recipe to put together. And you don’t have to stick with just the flavours here. I make so many different types of herb infused butters with all sorts of ingredients. A simple example is the cranberry flavoured butter at Christmas.
This is what we’ll be doing:
- Zest the kaffir lime.
- Chop the kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and chillies finely.
- Mix all the above with the room temperature butter.
- Wrap the herb and chilli flavoured butter in a cling film in the shape of a log.
- Refrigerate or place in the freezer. To use, just slice off however much you need.
Easy, right?
Ingredients
You don’t need many ingredients for this diy flavoured butter. Let’s take a look.
Butter
Should you use salted butter or unsalted butter to make flavoured butters? I would definitely use salted butter because flavour is key. It makes a huge difference, especially if you’re using your chilli butter to top your food when it’s done cooking.
However, if you are on a low sodium diet, then by all means, go with unsalted butter. Whatever you’re using, make sure it’s real butter and not a mix of butter and other fats.
Kaffir Lime
You can click here to read more about Kaffir lime leaves and the fruit. We’re using both the leaves and the zest of the fruit to flavour our chilli butter. Kaffir lime leaves and zest have a unique citrusy aroma and flavour that can’t really be replicated with another lime.
However, if you can’t find kaffir lime leaves and the fruit, don’t fret. You can still make this infused butter with any other lime. So you’ll be making lime, lemongrass and chilli butter! Use the zest of any lime you can find in your part of the world. And if you like, add some fresh coriander leaves (cilantro).
Lemongrass
Click here to read more about lemongrass and the various ways it can be used. Lemongrass has a sharp citrusy and slightly sweet aroma and flavour that enhance the overall effect of this butter.
Lemongrass is something that you should be able to find easily in most parts of the world.
Chillies
You can use any chillies you like in our flavoured butter today. The hotter your chillies, the hotter your chilli butter. Whether they’re red or green is a matter of preference. I tend to go for red in this chilli butter recipe because we’ve got so much green for the kaffir lime leaves and fruit.
You could also use chilli flakes or even chilli powder, if that’s what you have at hand.
How to Use Kaffir Lime, Lemongrass and Chilli Butter
For starters, let me tell you that you should make a few logs and keep them in the freezer. That way, you always have some flavoured butter to use whenever you need it. It makes a great flavour enhancer, and you just slice off a piece or two, as you need.
These are some of the ways to use your chilli butter:
- as a cooking ingredient in place of your usual butter. So next time you’re making an omelette, scrambled eggs, grilled fish, grilled/fried steak, use this kaffir lime, lemongrass and chilli butter instead, for an instant hit of flavour.
- in the same vein, use it to baste meat, seafood or vegetables as you’re cooking them, whether under the, grill, in the oven, or on the barbecue.
- it’s perfect as a topping. When you’re done cooking, say, steamed vegetables, boiled potatoes, a steak, grilled fish, drop half a disc of this chilli butter. Watch it melt and flavour whatever you’ve just cooked.
- stir it through pasta, rice, couscous or any other grain. Imagine how good it would be with our nasi minyak recipe here. Or this simple couscous recipe on LinsFood.
- melt some and add it to your salad dressing.
I have an OLD recipe (in other words, short and rubbish photos!) on LinsFood for Chilli Butter Scallops. Now today’s chilli butter will work so well in that recipe. So just use the butter here, leaving out everything else (not the scallops!) and finish the scallops off with lime juice. Absolutely delicious!
How Long Will it Last?
Because of the fresh ingredients in the chilli butter, it’s best kept in the freezer for maximum flavour. While the butter will be perfectly fine for a few months if left frozen, I find that it’s best eaten within a month. Longer than that, and it loses its freshness and may even have hints of fatigue in its flavour. Not quite rancid, just not fresh.
Your kaffir lime, lemongrass and chilli butter can also be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Right then, shall we get to it?
If you enjoy the recipe, drop me a comment and let me know. And if you are feeling like a star, don’t forget that 5-star rating! 😉Thank you!
If you make this recipe, post it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @azlinbloor and hashtag it #linsfood.
Lin xx
Kaffir Lime, Lemongrass and Chilli Butter
Equipment
- 1 knife
- 1 chopping board
- 1 bowl
- 1 tablespoon
- clingfilm
Ingredients
- 100 g salted butter at room temperature
- zest of 3 kaffir limes or regular limes
- 4 kaffir lime leaves omit if unavailable and use fresh coriander leaves if you want (cilantro)
- 1 lemongrass
- 2 – 3 chillies or a handful birds eye for a hotter butter
Instructions
- Lightly whip the room temperature butter with a spoon, to loosen.
- Zest the kaffir lime (or whatever lime you’re using).
- Lose the middle vein on the kaffir lime leaves and finely chop them.
- Top and tail the lemongrass and get rid of the first 2 layers of skin to get to the softer core. Chop finely.How to use lemongrass? Find out here.
- Finally, chop up the chillies finely too.
- Add the lime zest and chopped ingredients to the butter and mix well.
- Tip out the butter onto clingfilm and shape into a log. Roll up tightly and twist the ends like a sweet wrapper. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days or the freezer for a month.
- To use, just slice off as needed, as in the images and video.
