> Katra wrote:

>> Any precautions for using Galangal root?
>> If it's an herbal medicinal, I'd tend be cautious with it!!!
>>

It is a root, not an herb. Try a google with galangal and recipe or
galangal and thai. IME, anything rather aromatic is ascribed healing
properties.
>
From delia smith's Winter Collection:

Ingredients
Main
450 g cooked chicken , sliced into shreds
600 ml coconut milk , you will need to buy two tins

For the green curry paste
8 green chillies , whole
1 lemon grass stalk , 1 lemon grass stalk, sliced thinly and soaked for
30 minutes in 2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tsp kaffir lime peel , pared and thinly shredded
7 pieces fresh galangal , Thai ginger
1 tsp coriander stalks , chopped
0.5 tsp cumin , roasted, ground
0.5 tsp coriander seeds , roasted, ground
3 garlic cloves
5 Thai shallots , peeled, or normal shallots in not available
1 tsp shrimp paste

For the finished sauce
4 tsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
1 tsp palm sugar
3 tsp fresh green peppercorns
7 kaffir lime leaves
0.5 mild red chilli , de-seeded and cut into hair-like shreds
25 g Thai basil leaves


The curry paste can be made well ahead of time and there’s absolutely no
work involved if you have a food processor or a liquidiser because all
you do is simply pop all the curry paste ingredients in and whiz it to a
paste (stopping once or twice to push the mixture back down from the
sides on to the blades). In Thailand, of course, all these would be
pounded by hand with a pestle and mortar, but food processors do cut out
all the hard work.

What you need to end up with is a coarse paste but don’t worry if it
doesn’t look very green – that’s because I have cut the chilli content;
in Thailand they use about 35! If you want yours to be green, then this
is the answer! Your next task is to prepare all the rest of the ingredients.

To make the curry, first place the tins of coconut milk on a work
surface, upside down. Then open them and inside you will see the whole
thing has separated into thick cream and thin watery milk.

Divide these by pouring the milk into one bowl and the cream into
another. Next place a wok, without any oil in it, over a very high heat
and then as soon as it becomes really hot, add three-quarters of the
coconut cream.

What you do now is literally fry it, stirring all the time so it doesn’t
catch. What will happen is it will start to separate, the oil will begin
to seep out and it will reduce. Ignore the curdled look – this is
normal. You may also like to note that when the cream begins to separate
you can actually hear it give off a crackling noise.

Next add the curry paste and three-quarters of the coconut milk, which
should be added a little at a time, keeping the heat high and letting it
reduce down slightly. Stay with it and keep stirring to prevent it sticking.

Then add the Thai fish sauce and palm sugar - stir these in and then add
the chicken pieces and the peppercorns. Stir again and simmer everything
for about 4-5 minutes until the chicken is heated through. Then just
before serving, place the lime leaves one on top of the other, roll them
up tightly and slice them into very fine shreds. Then add them along
with the red chilli and torn basil leaves. Serve with Thai fragrant rice.