The market · Herbs and aromatics · Southeast Asia
Lesser galangal
Kencur: a small, stubby rhizome with a camphor-and-pepper bite, quite different from greater galangal. It's what makes pecel and gado-gado peanut sauce taste Javanese.
camphor · peppery · earthy
What to do with it
JavanesePecelBlanched greens and sprouts under a hot peanut sauce scented with kencur and lime leaf, with rice and a crisp peanut cracker.No one here has made it yetSundaneseKaredokRaw vegetables — long beans, cucumber, sprouts, cabbage, small aubergines and lemon basil — in a peanut sauce sharp with kencur.No one here has made it yetBalineseBabi gulingA whole young pig stuffed with base genep and greens, rubbed with turmeric and spit-roasted over wood until the skin shatters.No one here has made it yetBalineseBebek betutuA whole duck or chicken stuffed and smothered with base genep, wrapped and cooked slowly in embers until it falls apart.No one here has made it yetBalineseLawarFinely chopped meat, vegetables and grated coconut, mixed with base genep and lime — made fresh for ceremonies and eaten the same day.No one here has made it yetBalineseBase genepThe complete Balinese spice paste: shallot, garlic, four rhizomes, chilli, candlenut, shrimp paste and warm spices, ground together.No one here has made it yet
If you can't find it
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Fresh is rare outside Indonesia; frozen and dried (sliced or powdered) are at Indonesian grocers. Use dried at about a third of the fresh weight.
- Worth knowing
- Use it sparingly — a thumb-sized piece flavours a whole bowl of sambal kacang.
