Penang Curry

Can you tell me please, what is galangal? where do I buy it?

Galangal is similar to root ginger, you may get it from a large supermarket or asian store, if not you can use ginger as a substitute but is doesn't have as strong a flavour.

Galangal is one of the key ingredients South East Asian, a member of the rhizome family ( along with Krachai, Tumeric and Ginger )

Although it looks like and some books may tell you to substitute with ginger the two are worlds apart ( bit like when old cookbooks say substitute fresh coriander with parsley ) Galanal has a thin creamy pink tinged skin that can be almost scraped off and a totally unique aroma....infact i'm scratching a fresh piece i picked up from Chinatown right now ( 85p for 3 finger sized pieces ) and it has a strong citrus, comphor aroma.

If you do manage to find some but dont think you'll use it all then slice it thin, dry and grind in a spice grinder ( i use a coffee grinder ) apart from fresh bottled is probably the next best, then i suppose as a last resort ginger.

T.

Thank you both for this wealth of information. I had no idea. I will hunt it down next time I am in Nottingham.