Organic Galangal Ground Standard Jar 30g Steenbergs details and description

Steenbergs Galangal Powder is just what you need for your South East Asian cooking.  Closely related to ginger, organic galangal (known often as Laos powder even though it does not come from the country - Laos) is used mainly in Indonesia and South East Asian cooking.  Organic galangal is more intense and flowery in flavour than organic ginger and its aroma really gets right to the back of your nose with a cleansing smell. Use small amounts of Steenbergs organic galangal in soups, curries, grilling chicken or fish. Alternatively, add a pinch to your minced beef, some onions and garlic with no tomato and very little liquid to create a flavoursome, dry loose meat dish.  Steenbergs organic galangal is normally sourced from Indonesia or Vietnam.

Galangal is part of the ginger family.  As such, galangal is a tropical plant with ginger-like rhizomes and blade-like, green leaves.  Steenbergs galangal comes from the greater galangal plant, Alpinia galanga, which grows to about 2m tall (6ft) and has greenish-white, orchid-shaped flowers with dark-red veined tips.  Galangal fruits are red berries that are used in some parts of South East Asia in much the same way as cardamom.  But it is the rhizomes that are the source for the galangal powder; these rhizomes are knobbly, underground, root-bearing stems with a thin light brown skin that is marked with darker rings, while the inside is pale-yellow flesh similar to the look of a fresh ginger root.  Younger shoots have a pinky colour.  To harvest, the galangal rhizomes are simply lifted, cleaned and for dried galangal, dried, sliced then ground.  The aroma of galangal reminds one of ginger with a sharp, nasal penetrating aroma with a hint of lemon and a hot clean taste.  The galangal powder is a tan coloured with a strong and clean aroma and taste.  For more on galangal, try Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages .

Galangal is used in many South East Asian dishes, especially those of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.  For example, Thai soups not only include lemongrass and lime leaves, but also a few slices of galangal, while Thai green and red curries include the ground galangal powder.  For some inspiration on cooking with galangal, try the BBC website or Steenbergs recipes.

Steenbergs organic galangal is part of the Steenbergs UK range of over 400 organic spices, peppers, herbs, organic extracts and flavoured sugars, with many of these being Fairtrade certified to boot. For your local stockist click on "Where to see us", call us on 01765 640 088 or email enquiries@steenbergs.co.uk.

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