Galangal & Kala Jeera

[lovkel]

On a whim, I recently purchased some ground galangal and some kala jeera from Penzeys. The only problem is that I am not entirely sure in what I'll use them. I did some looking, but I figured I could get some excellent suggestions from fellow egulleteers.

So ... any recipes, suggestions, ideas would be welcome.

[snowangel]

Larb comes immediately to mind! There's a recipe here.

[trillium]

With dried, ground up galangal? I tried the Penzey's galangal when I couldn't find fresh or frozen and it has just sat in my cupboard for 7 years, I think it's time to throw it out. The dried whole rhizome will do in a pinch, but the ground barely resembles it's namesake. Very disappointing.

Kali jeera is nice in a Hyderbadi type pickle, tomato chutneys, Bengali dishes with mustard oil or in Afghani flat breads.

regards,

trillium

[Milagai]

another classic use of kala jeera (hindi also has genders for things, like

french, so kala jeera, black jeera NE kali jeera, black jeera )

is to make pulao:

wash and drain basmati rice,

fry in ghee with kala jeera, black peppercorns, bay leaves,

big cardamom, cloves, cinnamon; pinch turmeric if you want it yellow.

boil with water and a few veggies (diced carrots; peas; eg)

salt, till done.

garnish with crisp fried onion shreds (not breaded; just caramelized).

serve with whatever goes with it (raita, some main dish, etc.)

milagai

[v. gautam]

I may be quite wrong, but I believe Trillium and Milagai are referring to two quite distinct spices.

The former may be thinking of Nigella sativum seeds, small black sort of teardrop shaped seeds vaguely similar to onion seeds. They have been mistakenly called onion seeds in many an Indian cookbook. These are also known as kalonji, and the Bengalis call it kalo jeerey. It is these seeds that are used in tandoor breads, and in Bengali cookery, amongst other things.

The other kala jeera is a longer, thin, somewhat crescent shaped dark seed, with brownish highlights and often confused with caraway. It does come from a caraway-like plant growing in the mountainous areas of Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, etc. in India, and perhaps in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well. This other kala jeera is used in North Indian garam masalas, tandoori pastes, pilafs etc.

It is possible that kala jeera is sometimes referred to as Shahzeera, perhaps intending to convey that this relatively expensive spice is associated with royalty or is a noble spice.

Compounding the problem is the Persian word 'Siah" meaning black. Siah zeera can be used for caraway, and in the tongues of the Indian plains and bazaars, Shahzeera and Siahzeera can become confused, although the spices are not. Hence the perennial perplexity about kala zeera, shahzeera and siah zeera among many Indian foodwriters.

The link below has a lively debate about the subject:

http://www.anothersubcontinent.com/forums/...=30entry35789

Edited July 16, 2005 by v. gautam (log)

[anzu]

With the distinction between siah and shah, I would suggest that the Persian siah came first, hence the name siah zeera (black cumin) first. There are parallels: shahtoot in Hindi for black mulberry, while the name in Persian for these is siah toot.

The confusion then between shah as royal and shah as black probably came later, and arose probably in part due to the perceived prestige of 'black cumin' (as an aside, can anyone tell me if shahtoot are ever connected with the concept of 'royal mulberries'? My intuition would be that it's not the case, as they're less prestigious, but it would be interesting to learn otherwise).

There are also parallel processes happening with other languages, where 'si' has morphed into a 'sh' sound.

If you have black cumin (i.e. not kalonji/nigella/chernushka), there are also some very nice Indian meat dishes using it. I'd have to hunt them out first though.

With dried galangal, the difference in taste compared to fresh is parallel to that between fresh and dried ginger. That is, you have a very different tasting beast that should be used in quite different ways to the fresh root. I would suggest that you look up some historic European recipes on the Internet (there are a lot of sites, use galangal/galangale as a key word). It was used extensively in the past, and then dropped out of fashion.

Someone earlier suggested throwing it out, I think? A drastic response. It has its own interesting and authentic place, but not in modern Asian cuisine of any kind I know.

[Pan]

Do not throw out the galangal powder! It's called Laos powder in Indonesia and is used in many Indonesian dishes that are delicious!

Results 1 - 10 of about 399 for "Laos powder" on yahoo.com. Looks like recipes start appearing on page 2 of the results.

[Austin]

Dried galangal is virtually uknown here in Thailand (I've only ever seen it sold to tourists in Chiang Mai). And I've never seen or eaten galangal (khaa in Thail) in laap. Never. This might give laap additional "Thai flavor" but it's not a Thai way of cooking.

In Thailand galangal is mostly pounded up with other ingredients to make nam phrik (chili pastes) or khreung kaeng (chili pastes that serve as a base for curries). They are also used in different soups, such as tom yam or of course, tom khaa.

Austin

[trillium]

Someone earlier suggested throwing it out, I think? A drastic response. It has its own interesting and authentic place, but not in modern Asian cuisine of any kind I know.

←

No , no. I think I need to throw MINE out. It's sat in my cuboard for 7 years! I'm sure the new stuff is usable, I just wouldn't use in place of fresh in Thai food, which is what I bought it for when I didn't know any better.

Some ex-pats use slices of dry rhizome in toms/soups when they can't get fresh but the whole slices dried smell and taste very different then the powder Penzey's sells.

And I was thinking about Nigella seeds, thanks for pointing that out (and I'm sorry for getting the genders wrong!)

regards,

trillium