How do you use fresh turmeric and lemongrass in Thai curry?

[background] I am fortunate enough to live near an international food market, specializing in Asian foods.



[recipe] I have been making curried tofu using powdered (Korean-- at least that's the language on the package) curry, fresh vegetables,fresh ginger, coconut milk and, of course, curried tofu (the market has pre-curried tofu -- I've never seen it anywhere else).



[recipe] I sometimes add Thai hot peppers as well, but I know how to work with them (de-seeded chiles are less spicy, cooking increases intensity, wash hands frequently with dish soap to avoid ';chili hands';)



[recipe] [important] The recipe does not include peanuts because my boyfriend is very allergic. I generally add a few drops of sesame oil instead. He is also allergic to almonds, walnuts, etc. but nt nuts. We do not know about cashews (what we know about his allergy comes from accidental exposure -- for obvious reasons, he is not inclined to experiment).



[question] The market also has fresh turmeric and fresh lemongrass, which I would like to include in my curry recipe, but I do not know how to use them. I just bought some fresh (ish?-- the very tops are somewhat dry, but I have never seen lemongrass that does not have that quality, although I have also never seen lemongrass in that form anywhere but that market).



[question] The fresh turmeric is next. It looks like a ginger root, so I was thinking of using it like I use the ginger, but I don't know if that's correct.How do you use fresh turmeric and lemongrass in Thai curry?
Fresh turmeric is like ginger and as Dave C said Galagal, you can chop both the fresh turmeric and lemongrass, just peel both, and they are used in Thai curry paste to, with other ingredients, mashed in a food processor to a paste for long cooking dishes, you can hand pound then with a mortar and pestle, but your not going to get the fine texture a processor gives.



I buy them both, clean them and keep them in my freezer, like you here in Toronto Canada, I have the world at my beckon call, I can get anything I want from the 4 corners of the planet, and as chef, used many of them in my career, as I worked in Asia, Canada and the Caribbean.



Yes Galangal is different than Ginger it is more medicinal, not as pungent, it and th other ingredients are the base for red, yellow and green curry's, it is the chili's, coriander and turmeric that determine the colour.How do you use fresh turmeric and lemongrass in Thai curry?
I thought Thai curry uses galanga, which looks like ginger, not tumeric.



Lemongrass for sure.
Thai curry pastes recipes :

http://www.ezythaicooking.com/curry_past鈥?/a>