Galangal: A versatile Southeast Asian spice

What is It?

This ginger look alike spice is brown in colour as commonly used for flavouring. It has a pungent flavour and is now used only in Far Eastern cookery from Indonesia, IndoChina, Singapore, and Thailand.

Galangal can be segregated into two kinds, “greater” and “lesser.” The larger and milder ones are greater galangal while lesser galangal is smaller, sweeter and more intense.

History

It is native to Java and widely used in Indonesian and Malaysian cuisine as a food flavouring, and spice. Lesser galangal is native to China, growing mainly on the southeast coast. It is also grown in India and the rest of South East Asia. Although barely used in Europe today, both galangals were formerly imported in great quantity, as medicine and spice.

Culinary Uses

Galangal is good for fish and shellfish recipes. It is also used in sauces, soups, satays, chicken, meat, and vegetable curries. Dried galangal can also be grated to a powder and added directly to a dish as ground ginger would be.

Select and Store

Store galangal powder in airtight containers, and used within a short space of time. One slice of the root is equivalent to half a teaspoon of powder.