Our base list for the various cuisines includes ingredients such as chicken, tomatoes, celery, lemongrass, spring onions, chives, coriander, ginger and
galangal. Unlike many other cuisines, Asian food is filled with delicious and nutritious vegetables, which we ensure are organic and local.
INGREDIENTS: 50g/13/4oz/1 cup coconut flakes 2 lemongrass stalks, hard outer layers removed 2 small onions, chopped 3 garlic cloves, chopped 6cm/21/2in piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated 1 tbsp chopped
galangal, or paste 4-6 red chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped 1 tsp turmeric 2 tbsp oil 4 cardamom pods, lightly crushed 1 cinnamon stick 650g/1lb 7oz braising steak, diced into 3cm/11/4in cubes 400ml/14fl oz/12/3 cups coconut milk 4 kaffir lime leaves Grated zest and juice of 1 lime 190g/63/4oz/1 cup red rice, preferably Bhutanese (available online), soaked overnight, then drained Salt 2 shallots, finely sliced and deep fried 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves METHOD: 1.
I also tried a cup of Tom Kha Gai ($5.95), a soup with chicken, coconut milk,
galangal root, lime, mushrooms and scallions.
The rhizomes of the plant, commonly referred to as
galangal, contain several key active constituents, including essential oils, tannins, neolignans, phenol, glycosides, monoterpenes, diarylheptanoids, phenylpropanoids, carbohydrates, gallic acid glycoside, galangoisoflavonoid, beta-sitosterol, galangin, alpinin, zerumbone, and kampferide (Zhong Xi Yijie He Xue Bao 2011;9:1061-5; Bioorg.
The green curry paste contains plenty of chopped fresh coriander leaves and green chillies that give it a bright green color but it also includes some unique ingredients such as chopped '
galangal', kaffir leaves and lemon grass.
It has a base of sambal belacan, sour tamarind, garlic,
galangal, lemon grass and coconut milk, topped with omelette strips, chicken strips, prawns, fresh coriander and lime.
Asian cucumbers, eggplants and radishes offer just enough twist to familiar domestic varieties, while the strangely misshapen taro root and
galangal taste as novel and foreign as they look.
It was a huge bowl of hot and spicy soup loaded with vegetables and then topped with chicken, and flavoured with Thai spices like coriander, lemongrass, red onions, kaffir limes leaves and
galangal. The rice noodles had a great chew to them.
Mint (yerba buena),
galangal (langkawas), and basil (sulasi) grew in pots around my hole-in-the-wall boutique in Malate.
Part of the ginger family,
galangal (proA[degrees]nounced guhA[degrees]langA[degrees]guh) is known as blue ginger or Siamese ginA[degrees]ger.
The chicken is marinated in coconut, soy and turmeric combined with a sauce containing
galangal, letriongrass, chilli and shallots which introduce an aromatic flavour.