Galanga powder adds aroma and flavor in your Thai dishes. Galanga powder can be cooked soup, curry. Dried and powdered galanga is less fresh but more spicy, something in between of ginger and cinnamon. Dried galanga in form of slices that must be reconstituted in warm water and come closer to fresh galanga in their flavor. In many recipes, you can substitute a combination of fresh ginger root and a bit of dried galangal to simulate the taste and texture of fresh galangal root.
Indonesians, for example, frequently use slices or powder of the fresh or dried rhizome, e.g., for nasi goreng (fried rice with vegetables and meat) or for the characteristically sweet Jawanese curries. Another well-known Indonesian dishes which makes use of dried galanga is rendang, a spicy beef (or buffalo) stew. Cubed beef is cooked in thick coconut milk together with dried chiles, garlic and dried turmeric, ginger, Indonesian bay-leaves and galangale; some recipes additionally prescribe Indonesian cinnamon, black pepper or even fennel. Rendang is famous both for the soft texture of the otherwise tough buffalo meat and for its hot and aromatic flavor; even for ordinary beef, I found a cooking time of three hours appropriate, unless the procedure is sped up by using a pressure cooker.
Also known as Galanga, galangaal, galingale. Lengkuas. Lao. Kha. Used in Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Laotian and Cambodian cuisines.
