Galangal (Kulanjan) vs Ginger: Taste, Thai Soups and Unani Use
Snap a knob of galangal and you’ll smell pine, lemon peel and pepper, not the sweet heat of adrak. Galangal vs ginger comes down to this: they’re cousins, not twins, and swapping one for the other changes a dish. This guide covers greater and lesser galangal, how to buy the dried kulanjan slices at a pansaari, how Thai cooks use it, what Unani tradition says about it, and who should go easy.
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What galangal is, and the two kinds you’ll find
Galangal is a rhizome, which means a creeping underground stem rather than a true root, and it belongs to the same plant family as ginger, haldi and even elaichi, which is why a fresh piece looks so much like adrak at first glance on a crowded vegetable stall. Two plants share the name.
- Greater galangal (Alpinia galanga), called kulanjan or bara kulanjan in Urdu and Hindi, kha in Thai and lengkuas in Malay. It’s thick, knobbly and cream-skinned with dark rings and pink tips when fresh. This is the one in Thai soups and curry pastes.
- Lesser galangal (Alpinia officinarum), chhota kulanjan or Chinese galangal. Smaller, redder, fiercer. It’s the kind Unani and old European herbals mostly describe.
Two more roots get muddled with them. Sand ginger (Kaempferia galanga) is a small, round, camphor-scented root used in Kerala and Malaysian cooking, and mango ginger (amba haldi) is a turmeric cousin that smells of raw mango. Neither is galangal, whatever the online listing says.
Galangal vs ginger: taste, texture and when to swap
| Galangal (kulanjan) | Ginger (adrak) | |
|---|---|---|
| Smell | Pine, citrus, camphor | Warm, sweet, spicy |
| Heat | Sharp and peppery | Hot, lingering |
| Texture | Hard, woody, won’t grate well | Juicy, grates easily |
| Peel | Thin, often left on | Scraped with a spoon |
| Best in | Thai soups, pastes, rendang | Salan, chai, adrak-lehsan paste |
Can you replace galangal with ginger? In a pinch, yes. Use ginger plus a little lime zest and a crushed black peppercorn to fake the citrus-pepper edge, and accept that tom kha will taste more like a ginger soup than the real thing.
The other way round rarely works. Put galangal in a desi salan in place of adrak and the whole pot tastes faintly of floor cleaner.
How to buy galangal, fresh or dried
In Pakistan and most of north India, fresh galangal is a big-city find, turning up now and then in larger supermarkets and East Asian grocers, while every pansaari keeps dried kulanjan in a jar. Here’s what to check.
- Fresh: press it. Rock hard and heavy. Soft means old.
- Fresh: look at the skin. Smooth, tight and pale with pinkish tips. Wrinkles, grey patches or mould mean pass.
- Fresh: scratch and sniff. A good piece smells sharply of pine and citrus. Musty or faint means stale.
- Dried slices: look at the colour. Pale tan to reddish-brown, cleanly cut. Dust, holes or webbing mean insects.
- Dried slices: smell a piece. Aroma should still be strong after you rub it. No smell, no flavour.
- Powder: buy small. Ground galangal loses its scent within a few months, and a loose powder is easy to pad with cheaper starch or other roots. A sealed, labelled 50 g pack beats a big loose bag.
Jars of galangal paste and frozen slices from Thai brands work well in soups too, as long as you check the label for added salt, sugar and oil and remember to cut back on the salt in the rest of the recipe.
How to store galangal so it keeps
- Fridge: wrap the whole unpeeled piece in a dry paper towel, seal it in a zip bag and keep it in the vegetable drawer. Two to three weeks.
- Freezer: freeze it whole or in thin slices. It keeps a few months, and you can slice straight from frozen with a heavy knife.
- Dried slices: an airtight glass jar in a dark cupboard, up to a year.
- When it’s bad: soft, slimy, mouldy, or sour-smelling. Bin it.
Cooking with galangal: Thai soup, yakhni and tea
Galangal is too woody to eat. Slice it thin, let it perfume the pot and leave the slices on your plate like tej patta.
Tom kha-style chicken soup (serves 4)
Bring 500 ml chicken stock and 400 ml coconut milk to a gentle simmer with 6 thin slices of fresh galangal, 2 lemongrass stalks bashed and cut into pieces, and 4 lime leaves or a strip of lime zest. After 5 minutes, add 250 g thinly sliced boneless chicken and 150 g sliced mushrooms and cook until the chicken is white through, about 6 to 8 minutes. Season with 2 tablespoons fish sauce (or salt to taste), the juice of 1 lime and 2 slit green chillies, then scatter fresh dhania on top. Don’t boil hard after the coconut milk goes in; it splits.
Galangal yakhni
Drop 4 dried kulanjan slices into your usual chicken yakhni with the whole spices. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, because dried slices are slow to give up their flavour and need that long in hot liquid, then strain before serving. Brighter. Faintly lemony.
A warm lemony cup
Simmer 3 thin slices of fresh galangal and 1 bashed lemongrass stalk in 2 cups of water for 5 minutes. Strain, add a squeeze of lime and, if you like, a teaspoon of honey. Drink it for the taste, not as a medicine. The recipes in ajwain, saunf and adrak tea blends work the same way.
Kulanjan in Unani and desi tradition
Unani texts describe khulanjan as hot and dry in temperament (garm khushk). By that logic it was given for “cold” complaints: a phlegmy cough, a hoarse voice, a heavy, sluggish stomach and stiff, aching joints in winter. A small piece held in the cheek for a croaky voice is an old habit in some homes, and the root appears in several traditional throat, digestive and so-called strength compounds. Twelfth-century Europe prized it too: the German abbess Hildegard of Bingen wrote warmly of it.
That’s the tradition. The modern picture is thinner: there’s lab interest in its aromatic compounds, but no good evidence that kulanjan settles a cough or restores a voice. It is fine as flavour, a pleasant warm drink, and a respected part of Unani history, not a replacement for care.
A hoarse voice lasting more than 3 weeks needs a doctor to look at the voice box, especially in smokers. Likewise, a cough past 3 weeks is a reason for a TB test, and the everyday cold routine is in the joshanda recipe.
Galangal side effects, myths and who should go easy
As a cooking spice, galangal is safe for nearly everyone. The questions start with concentrated powders sold “for men”, teas taken by the jug, and capsules bought online.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding: galangal in food is fine; skip concentrated powders and remedy products, which haven’t been checked for safety in pregnancy. Acidity and ulcers: it’s pungent, so large amounts can worsen heartburn and reflux. Blood thinners and upcoming surgery: tell your doctor about any regular galangal product, as its effect on bleeding is not well known. Diabetes medicine: don’t use galangal to manage sugar, and don’t change any medicine; ask your doctor before adding a herbal product. Allergy: people who react to ginger or cardamom may react to galangal too. Children: the flavour in family food is fine; no powders or remedy doses. See a doctor for a hoarse voice beyond 3 weeks, trouble swallowing, coughing blood, or a lump in the neck.
Myth: galangal raises testosterone
Truth: that claim leans on animal experiments, not people. No kitchen root will fix low energy or low libido, and both deserve a real check-up.
Myth: galangal whitens skin
Truth: nothing in it lightens skin safely. Rubbing a pungent root on your face is more likely to leave a rash.
Myth: it’s just ginger with a fancy name
Truth: different plant, different flavour chemistry, and if you taste a slice of each side by side just once, with the pine and citrus of one against the sweet burn of the other, you’ll never mix them up again.
More spice guides live in Desi Remedies.
Galangal questions people ask
Can you eat galangal?
Yes, but not in chunks. It’s too woody to chew, so slice it thin to flavour a dish and leave the slices, or pound it into a paste that cooks into the sauce.
What are the health benefits of galangal?
Honestly, modest ones. It adds big flavour without salt or sugar, and like other spices it carries aromatic compounds, but claims for cough, joints or hormones rest on tradition and animal work, not solid human evidence.
What are galangal side effects?
In food amounts, very few. Large amounts of powder or strong tea can bring heartburn, stomach upset or, rarely, an allergic rash.
Is galangal good for acid reflux?
No, it’s more likely to aggravate it. Pungent spices tend to worsen reflux, so keep galangal to cooking amounts and see a doctor for heartburn most days of the week.
Is galangal good for diabetes?
It won’t bring sugar down in any useful way. As a salt-free, sugar-free flavour it suits a diabetic diet, but diabetes medicine is never swapped for a spice.
Is galangal the same as kulanjan?
Yes. Kulanjan, or khulanjan in Unani, is the Urdu and Hindi name for galangal, with “bara” for the greater kind and “chhota” for the lesser.
Is galangal the same as turmeric?
No. They’re relatives in the ginger family, but turmeric is bright orange inside and earthy, while galangal is cream-white and piney.
Can I grow galangal at home?
In warm, humid places, yes. Plant a fresh piece with visible buds in a large pot in spring, keep it in bright shade and moist, and dig up rhizomes after about a year.
How long does dried galangal last?
Whole dried slices keep up to a year in an airtight jar. Powder fades within a few months, so buy it in small packs.
Is galangal safe during pregnancy?
As an everyday spice in food, it’s generally considered fine. Avoid concentrated powders, teas taken as a remedy and capsules, and ask your doctor about anything beyond cooking amounts.