Galangal

Galangal (also known as galanga root, gao liang jiang, lengkuas, and Siamese ginger) is an underground rhizome native to Java and widely used in Malaysia and Indonesia as a food flavouring and spice. The root is related to ginger and it has a similar appearance and taste, and is often used in place of ginger in Malay and Indonesian dishes and curries. Varieties include:

• Greater galangal (Alpinia galangal)
• The hot and peppery lesser galangal (Alpina officinarum)
  
• The sweet and slightly sickly kaempferia (Kaempferia galangal)

Galangal is most commonly used to make curried and spiced dishes; when pounded with lemon grass, chilli, shallots and garlic, it flavours Thai curries, and when cut into slices it may be used to spice soups. Although it can be used with chicken, meat and vegetables, it goes particularly well with dishes containing fish and seafood.

As the dense white root is quite hard to cut, it may be prepared for cooking by pounding it or by softening it in hot water for a half hour. It is also available in powdered or dried form, which tend to have a more concentrated flavour that the fresh root, which means that recipes using powdered or dried root require only about half as much as those using fresh.