街市THE WET MARKET
Sand ginger
沙薑
A small, thin-skinned, white-fleshed rhizome, a cousin of ginger with a completely different scent, camphor and pepper. Cantonese cooks use it to marinate sand ginger chicken, in the dip for poached chicken, and as the two slices fried off for the sizzling chicken claypot. Fresh it is sliced; dried it is ground to sand ginger powder. Vietnamese and Chinese grocers sell it fresh or frozen, and the spice rack has the powder.
Preparation
Wash and slice fresh sand ginger thinly, skin on; the powder goes straight in.
Origin
Guangdong and Guangxi. Sold fresh or frozen at Vietnamese and Chinese grocers, and as sand ginger powder in the spice rack; the sizzling chicken claypot works without it.
Availability in Australia
Herbal shops / specialists
