Aromatic Ginger, China Root, Chinese Ginger, Colic Root, East India Catarr, East Indian Catarrh Root, East Indian Root, Galanga, Galanga de la Chine, Galanga vrai, Galengale, Galingale, Gargaut, Garingal, India Root, Ingurupiayati, Krachai, Kunchor, Petit galanga, Sa leung geung, Sha geung fun, Zedoary

Lesser Galangal (kencur): Used as a flavouring in Indochina and Indonesia but not in Chinese cooking. The 8 x 2cm (3 x 3/4in) rhizome has a red-brown interior. The texture is fibrous. Available as slices or powder.
Bouquet: Aromatic and gingery
Flavour: Aromatic and pungent, peppery and gingerlike.
Heat Scale: Hot

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 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. Gerard (1597) says: ‘they conduce to venery, and heate the too cold reines (loins)’.

The use of greater galangal is confined to local Indonesian dishes such as curries. Although known in Europe since the Middle Ages, galangal is now used only in Far Eastern cookery from Indonesia, IndoChina, Malaya, Singapore and Thailand. Like ginger, galangal is a ‘de-fisher’ and so appears frequently in fish and shellfish recipes often with garlic, ginger, chilli and lemon or tamarind. Laos powder is more important than kencur and, as well as with fish, is used in a wide variety of dishes such as sauces, soups, satays and sambals, chicken, meat and vegetable curries. Although used in the often searingly hot Indonesian cookery, laos powder enhances dishes such as chicken delicately spiced with fennel and lemon grass and gently cooked in coconut milk. However, these mild dishes are usually accompanied by vegetable or fish sambals fiery with chili. ‘A Cook they hadde with hem for the nones To boille the chiknes with the Marybones and poudre Marchant tart and galyngale’ (Chaucer, 1386)