Better than sex? An amazing, easy dip with only 3 ingredients.

WOW! Spicy Galangal dip with roasted dry chilli and garlic!I learned this Thai dip a few months back and fell in love with it's ease, flavour and 'blow you away' taste impact.
It's the easiest thing in the world to makeIt has only three ingredients plus salt, and it transports you to another place in time and space on the first mouthful.

Nam prik kha – or galangal chilli dip is made by pounding fresh galangal root, garlic cloves, and dry red chilli roasted or toasted until brown and aromatic.
This is served with sticky rice and 'hedt torp' (boiled mushrooms) here up in the North bordering Laos.
That's it. End of story if you are Thai.

Being a chef and a crazy foreigner, I get to know the rules so I can break them. For me, this is just begging to be served as a spicy, seductive, heady dip or relish with a barbeque, braai or grill.

I know I have just offended a continent full of vegans and vegetarians who were about to write in and compliment me on giving them a meat-free culinary orgasm. Never mind.
You CAN use it just with mushrooms. The classic accompaniment is 'hedt torp' which are small round mushrooms with no stalk that look like smooth truffles.

I actually like dipping balls of sticky rice in this 'nam prik' and eating it just like that. THAT is a truly vegetarian use, and a very satisfying one too!
This recipe begs to be used – on everything. Recipe first – and my usual rambling and detail later under the recipe.


Equipment
You'll need a mortar and pestle for this to do it properly. Use a stone one - the wood and terracotta ones are for som tam salad - not for breaking down fibrous vegetables and spices into curry pastes and nam priks
You could probably use a blender, but it would be cheating. And you would get a paste texture and not a sexy dip and luxurious mouth feel. 


Ingredients: 

• Fresh galangal root 2 tbsp
• Fresh garlic cloves  1/2 tbsp
• Whole dried red chilli 3-4 tbsp 

How to do it.

1. Toast the dry chillies by tossing in a dry frying pan or wok over medium heat. You want the chillies to change colour to brown – almost starting to blacken evenly.
2. When you think you have almost screwed it up and cooked them too far – they will be just perfect. At first I used to toast them too lightly out of caution.
3. Toss the chillies into a mortar and pestle – and pound them to chilli flakes.The aroma will be intoxicating.
4. Wash the galangal root, and slice it thinly. Peel it if it is old and woody. If it is smooth and young – no need.
5. Smack a bulb of garlic with your hand or a cleaver, and remove a few cloves. Peel it if you must. With tiny Thai garlic – no need. It MUST be fresh!
6. Pound the galangal to crush it to a paste
7. Add the garlic, and keep pounding
8. Add the toasted chilli flakes and pound a minute more until it forms a paste
9. Add a dessertspoon of water to make it easier to eat and dip. That's it!

*A pinch of 'umami' or MSG will deepen and enhance the flavour, if you are not allergic or paranoid. If you are, then: "Aaaaaaaargggh!" – don't use it. Use it as a dip, relish or condiment.

Great with: mushrooms, BBQ steak, lamb cutlets, venison, sticky rice, chips (yes – French fries), or even spread thinly onto a burger as a sexy signature condiment. (but mention my name) Enjoy. This really is awesome!

Pound the galangal root slices in the mortar and pestle.

Add the garlic. Yep - I was shocked too. No need to peel the small, fresh Thai ones. Peel yours though. They will be plumper and with tougher skins.


Crush together - steady, rhythmic and deep. In Thailand they say you can tell how a person makes love by watching the way they wield a mortar and pestle. Since learning that I have been a tad self conscious, and I make sure I put on a good show of pounding impressively if any Thais are watching :-)

 Add the toasted chilli flakes. See the colour? they are darker than that on the outside - and they smell SO good. But why stress out doing it daily? You can buy a bag of dry chillies, toast the whole lot, then grind them all and keep them in an airtight container or jar for 'instant gratification'.

After the mixing and pounding is done, add a dash of water just to smooth it out a little and make it easier to dip stuff in.

This has aphrodisiac qualities. Anybody who tries it will want to sleep with you, marry you or bear your children. If none of the above apply, then ask for money or favours. It's THAT good!

This is what a galangal plant looks like. And yes, as well as the tropics, they also grow in the sub-tropics. So try growing a plant or two in upper NZ, Australia, lower US, South Africa if you have a garden. Otherwise head to the supermarket.
I mentioned that Galangal is a root. That is not exactly correct. It is a rhizome like ginger, turmeric, and bamboo! But you can pretend that it IS a root if you have a plant - and just 'hoe in' to get some around the base, an inch or two under the ground. For the more academically minded, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galangal 

The flowers (above) can be used in cooking too. They look nice and have a fantastic taste and character that is very different to the root, which is a staple of Thai cuisine flavour bases.
The flowers are quite spicy surprisingly, and can be added into salads, stews & braises, and soups

Here is real food, totally lacking in romance or poetic license. Yes - real roots and rhizomes are covered in mud.
Just like carrots, parsnips, potatoes and other veg before they get taken to the distributor, sanitised, wrapped in shrink wrap and displayed in the supermarket on a polystyrene tray. :-) They taste fresher too.

The downside is that you need to give it a wash to get the dirt out of all the cracks. 
In hotels we sanitise them of course - and at home they get a good wash and a peel. It really is great to get to a farmers market if you can - The produce is so much closer to nature than what you see in the city department stores.


Any fresh galangal root is fine, and if you can get THAI dried chillies, then use them. They last for ages. Just keep them airtight. Do leave a comment if you make this one. It is just sensational.