Fresh Produce
Product Code: HB06-100
Price: £1.35
Galangal: Fresh Thai Produce
Thai Name: Kar Sod / ข่าสด
This member of the ginger family has a pungency and tang quite unlike that of common ginger. It is often referred to as greater galangal, to distinguish it from another variety grown in China, lesser galangal.
The young shoots of the rhizome are pale pink, and are more flavourful and tender than the older beige coloured rhizomes. Galangal is too spicy to be eaten raw, and is used in slices, chunks or pounded to a paste, first chop it into small pieces as it is often obstinately tough. Perhaps this is why Thai cooks just bruise a large chunk with the flat side of a cleaver and add it whole to the cooking pot.
Slices of dried Galangal are exported from tropical Asia, as are pieces of the young rhizome packed in water inside glass jars. However nothing quite matches the inimitable jungle fragrance of fresh galangal.
Botanical Name: Alipinia Galanga
Fresh Produce of Thailand.
These are just some of the Thai recipes that it is used in:
Satay Chicken
Tom Yum Kung
