Help with thai curry recipe and lemongrass!

[AngryFeet]

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1788/thai-chicken-curry

I am making this dish for some friends on Friday (have bought all the ingredients already). However it doesn't really say what to do with the lemongrass - it says to chop it but not when it actually goes it. I also read somewhere that you need to bash the lemongrass to get the flavour out. Anyone cook this sort of thing and have any idea of what I am supposed to be doing?!

Some of the comments suggest that they added the lemongrass along with the onion and it came out lovely.

There's a few issues with this recipe as far as I'm concerned (I've learned my Thai cooking from friends when I was living there) and:

• if you use ready made curry paste I wouldn't bother with either the slices shallots or the lemon grass (that's covered by the paste): finely sliced lemon grass is for certain salad & soups, but don't really fit a curry
• fish sauce always goes in last; as does the sugar which takes away some of the heat if needed; salt is generally not needed (the fish sauce does that job)
• curry paste is best fried in a little of the coconut milk which you heat until it splits - fry on a low heat until all fragrance is released
• definitely don't add curry paste at the end of the dish it doesn't dissolve easily and it's the frying that makes it fragrant
• you could fry the sliced shallots to a crips and use that as a topping

recipe probably will still taste lovely - but it's putting a few things in there which don't really belong

crisp that is