Today is a super tiring day for me. Why??? Because I've decided to harvest all my Galangal root. It's a once a year ritual. Uprooting the plant was a pain then cleaning and ridding the roots off dirt were even more laborious. After all the hassle, I currently have an entire year's worth of Galangal root supply in my freezer. The rest I had given away to lucky neighbors.
Galangal root is one of the most important ingredient to prepare South East Asian dishes such as Nyonya Curry, Rendang, Tom Yum and Tom Kha Gai. Most people are unaware that preparing food from scratch can be a very tedious process until they begin to grow every single ingredient in their garden. However, food indeed taste better when they are organically grown. This tagline also serves as the perfect punishment for a glutton.
So, enough about the aromatic Galangal root. Several months ago my neighbor decided to hand me some Ambra fruits or "Kedondong" in Malay. The practice of give and take is very common here in Asia. We'll return in kind seasonal fruits, vegetables, herbs or spices within our garden. The way most Malaysians enjoy tart Ambra fruits are by adding dried sour plums then blend into fruit juice. The juice of the Ambra fruit is very refreshing. Ideal for warm tropical weather. It's also one of my all time favorite beverages.
Another way to enjoy Ambra fruits are by dipping the peeled fruits into thick "Rojak" sauce made with prawn paste, oyster sauce, thick soy sauce, tamarind paste, sugar and chili (optional). It's very similar to the way Thai people enjoy tart fruits such as unripe mangoes and so forth. The difference lies in substituting fish sauce with prawn paste. This method of enjoying fruit salad originated from Penang, the food capital of Malaysia.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers,
Wheat
All images were taken with Xiaomi Mi A2 Smartphone.