I was first introduced this root (from the ginger family) when I fell in love with and started cooking Tom yum goong. Tom yum is a Thai soup with a, hard to perfect, balance of hot and sour flavours and is exceptionally high in aromatic and visual appeal. I grow a lot of the ingredients for these soups in my kitchen garden, I like it that much :).

However, I generally buy the whole root (pickled) from my local Asian grocer. In Australia it is often called  Galanga. It is also commonly available sliced and vacuum packed in the frozen section.

I used to buy Galangal 🙂 now I grow it myself in pots rich in organics and in full sun. When you want to harvest it, pull a chunk out, cut what you want and slap the rest back under the soil. Be as rough as you want, this plant can take it!

I then use it in one of two ways:

1. For soups I add it whole (see the picture above) but I bruise it with a rolling pin or score it with a knife to release the flavour. When the soup is done, I chuck the root into the compost bin.
2. In pastes I slice it finely first (it is a very hard root and may make the wet blender wobble) and then blend it into the paste.
3. Young leaves can be eaten too.

It is true what they say about regular ginger root being a poor substitute as it is much stronger flavoured in my opinion.

From Wikipedia:

Alpinia galanga, (also Languas galanga), a plant in the ginger family, is an herb used in cooking, especially in Indonesian and Thai cuisines. It is one of four plants known as galangal, and is differentiated from the others with the common name greater galangal (or simply Thai galangal).

An example of a live plant in my garden:

The flower is a beauty too:

So easy to split and regrow:

Enjoy,

PK

Related Links:

• see more cooking with see more galangal posts here
• go to all meal ingredients here

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