Galangal powder

Galangal powder (laos powder) is dried, ground galangal root. Galangal is a member of the ginger family and is used in Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Laotian and Cambodian cooking.  Typically fresh galangal root is preferred.

You can purchase the powder in most any Vietnamese grocery store.  You can find in many Chinese grocers as well. You can purchase dried, sliced galangal root at Amazon.com: Dried, Sliced Galangal.

Substitute For Galangal Powder

If you have a recipe that calls for ground galangal powder you can use equal amounts of one of these ingredients:

• The easiest substitute is to use equal amounts of ground ginger given you're more likely to have this on your spice rack. Add a tiny pinch of cinnamon to round out the flavor.
• OR - Use 1 tablespoon chopped, fresh ginger in place of 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground galangal needed.
• OR - On the outside chance you have fresh galangal you can use 1 tablespoon, chopped per 1 1/2 teaspoons powder needed.
• OR - If you have dried, sliced galangal simply grind into a powder using a small coffee of spice grinder.  Unless your grinder is very sharp you may have a tough time grinding it.  You could also soak the dried galangal slices and mince them as finely as possible.