Fresh ginger (adrak): how to choose, store and use it in Indian cooking

Fresh ginger is the knobbly root of the ginger plant, called adrak in Hindi and imbir świeży in Polish. It gives a sharp, warm heat to curries, dals, marinades and masala chai, and together with garlic it forms the base of most North Indian dishes. Most Polish supermarkets sell it, but Indian cooks usually buy it in larger amounts, because a curry can need a thumb-sized piece or more.

Names you will see on labels

• English: ginger, fresh ginger, ginger root
• Hindi and Urdu: adrak
• Polish: imbir, imbir świeży (fresh), imbir mielony (ground)
• Dried ginger: sonth (Hindi), imbir suszony (Polish)

Ground ginger (imbir mielony) is not a replacement for fresh ginger in a tadka or a curry base. It has a different, duller taste. Use it in baking and spice mixes.

How to choose a good root

Pick a root that is firm and heavy for its size. The skin should be thin, smooth and slightly shiny. Avoid pieces that are wrinkled, soft, or have grey or mouldy spots at the cut ends. Wrinkled skin means the root has lost water and will be stringy inside.

Young ginger has very thin, pale skin and a milder taste. Older ginger is more fibrous and hotter. For grating into a curry, either works. For slicing into thin strips (julienne) as a garnish, younger roots are easier to cut.

How to store fresh ginger

• In the fridge: keep the unpeeled root in a paper bag or a closed container in the vegetable drawer. It stays good for about two to three weeks.
• In the freezer: freeze the whole root, unpeeled, in a bag. Grate it straight from frozen with a fine grater; you do not need to thaw or peel it. Frozen ginger keeps for months.
• As paste: see the recipe below.

Do not keep ginger in a closed plastic bag at room temperature. It gets damp and goes mouldy fast.

How to peel and use it

The easiest way to peel ginger is with the edge of a teaspoon: scrape it along the skin and the skin comes off without wasting the flesh. Then grate, chop or crush it.

Typical uses:

• Curry base: fry onion, then add ginger and garlic for a minute before the ground spices.
• Dal tadka: add a little grated ginger to the hot ghee with cumin.
• Masala chai: crush a small piece and boil it with the tea leaves, water and milk.
• Marinades: mix ginger with yoghurt and spices for tandoori chicken or paneer tikka.
• Garnish: thin strips of fresh ginger on dal makhani or a stir-fry.

Ginger-garlic paste at home

Ginger-garlic paste (pasta imbirowo-czosnkowa in Polish shops) saves a lot of time if you cook Indian food often.

Ingredients:

• 100 g fresh ginger, peeled
• 100 g garlic, peeled
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil
• ½ teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Chop the ginger and garlic roughly.
2. Blend them with the oil and salt into a smooth paste. Add a spoon of water only if the blender needs it.
3. Put the paste into a clean jar and keep it in the fridge. Use it within about a week.
4. For longer storage, freeze the paste in an ice-cube tray and keep the cubes in a bag in the freezer.

Always store homemade paste in the fridge or freezer, never at room temperature, and use a clean, dry spoon.

If you do not want to make it, ready ginger-garlic paste is sold in jars.

Where to buy fresh ginger in Poland

You can order fresh ginger (adrak) 500 g or the larger 1 kg pack from Little India. Ready ginger-garlic paste TRS and plain ginger paste are also on the site. Little India has shops in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk and ships orders across Poland.