Galangal, a herb like ginger and turmeric belongs to the rhizome family. It is also known as 'Siamese ginger' and is commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisine, especially Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. The raw galangal has a citrus flavor with an earthy aroma. The flavor often resembles to cedar. Though it belongs to the ginger family, but the galangal doesn’t have a peppery heat. So, it mostly used in the cuisine like soup and rendang. Although it is similar to ginger, a closer look will reveal the difference between galangal and ginger. Galangal has a tighter skin, is lighter in color and can have pinkish portions too.

My mother origin is Indonesia; most of her dishes contain galangal. The best recipe that she ever made is chicken galangal rendang. I very impressed with the dish. In my head “how come a lot of galangal cooked with chicken can be eaten deliciously”. So, I decide to choose this topic, Galangal. I really want to know more about galangal; the history, uses and many more.

Galangal is now grown in most Southeast-Asian countries, but was first harvested for use in cooking and medicine in China and Java. But by the Middle Ages, galangal had traveled extensively, and was already in common use throughout Europe. Referred to as "the spice of life" by St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), galangal was, in fact, one of her favorite remedies. This famous herbalist used galangal to treat everything from deafness and heart disease to indigestion. During the 13th-14th centuries, galangal was used by the Turkic peoples (who occupied much of present-day Russia) as a tea, and by the Arabs as a stimulant for their horses. It was used extensively throughout the East as a snuff for nasal infections, and in both Europe and Asia as an appetite stimulant and aphrodisiac.

The galangal that originated in Indonesia is also called, lengkuas and has a sharp flavour and pine like aroma. This is the galangal that is more commonly found in fresh or dried powder form in the west. The second type of galangal has a pungent flavour and tastes like a combination of pepper and ginger. This galangal is believed to have its origin in southern parts of China. This type of Galangal is popular in Thailand and locally called krachaai. The flavour of galangal would therefore depend on the type of galangal, the pine like aroma comes from the galangal that originated in Indonesia. Most Westerners would know this type of galangal.

The use of greater galangal is confined to local Indonesian dishes such as curries. Young rhizome is a spice used to flavor various dishes in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and China. Like ginger, galangal is a ‘de-fisher’ and so appears frequently in fish and shellfish recipes often with garlic, ginger, chili and lemon or tamarind. There are two ways in which galangal is added to food dishes, one is the crushed form and the other is thin strips. Before you start using galangal, you will always need to peel it and take off the top layer. If the recipe you are making needs the galangal to be crushed, slice it first and then do the crushing. This is because galangal is much more dense and harder than ginger. You will find that many cooks prefer to cut galangal into thin strips, that are similar to matchstick length and dimensions. The fact that galangal is harder than ginger means that, it will need to be cooked for a longer time to become tender. The Thai's love to make spicy curry paste and even dipping sauces with galangal as an ingredient. You will often find that, galangal, shallots, garlic and chili are crushed into a paste. This paste is then used to flavour seafood or meat curries.

If you are using dry galangal from the grocery store, you will need to soak the dry galangal in hot water before using it. Galangal powder, sometimes sold as Laos Galangal powder, can be used instead of fresh galangal. Replace about half inch of peeled and chopped fresh galangal with 1 teaspoon of galangal powder. If you have the option to use fresh galangal and dried or powdered galangal, choose fresh galangal. Though powdered galangal does not provide the same taste as fresh galangal, the convenience factor makes many cooks use galangal powder. If you were to use half an inch of fresh chopped galangal, the substitute of galangal powder would be 1 teaspoon. Fresh galangal can be stored in a cool dry place for around 2 weeks. If you decide to store galangal in your refrigerator, remember that the galangal will need to be kept moist. An ordinary paper wrapping would actually dry out the galangal by absorbing the moisture, use greased paper instead. Some grocery stores also sell dry galangal, this need to be soaked in hot water before use. The juice from galangal can stain fingers or clothes, so be careful when handling it.

One of the best galangal recipe for Buginese ethnic in Sabah is Galangal Chiken Rendang or Nasu Likku. This recipe is a recipe that must be served at the feast like Hari Raya and Kenduri Doa Selamat. The main ingredient for this recipe is chicken and galangal. Where the chicken are cooked with coconut milk and a lot of grated galangal. This rendang is cooked for 2 hours until ginger flavor is absorbed into the chicken.

Galangal also has many benefits in medicine and health.This rhizomes family have many applications in traditional medicines such as for skin diseases, indigestion, colic, dysentery, enlarged spleen, respiratory diseases, mouth and stomach cancer. Rhizomes show anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-protozoa, and expectorant activities. Resembling ginger in its effects, galangal is an aromatic stimulant, carminative and stomachic. It is used against nausea, flatulence, dyspepsia, rheumatism, catarrh and enteritis.

It's used as a cure for general pain relief, as a quick remedy after heart attack, it stimulates digestion, even sea-sickness. Galangal boosts the immune system, treats flu, the common cold, and is a breath freshener. It also possesses tonic and antibacterial qualities and is used for these properties in veterinary and homeopathic medicine. In India it is used as a body deodorizer and halitosis remedy. Both galangals have been used in Europe and Asia as an aphrodisiac for centuries.

Although galangal have nice aroma and taste, but this herbs is not widely used in western cuisine. It is mostly use in the cuisine of Asian country. Galangal is similar and in the same family with ginger but both have a different taste and aroma. Besides being used in the cooking, the galangal traditionally used in medicine. Galangal becomes more used and more known because it’s taste and benefits. Now we can get galangal in fresh, dried or powdered.