Ginger recipes - why not add some flavour and zest to your food and drink.

If like me, you have a passion for oriental foods you’ll already know how minced fresh ginger adds great flavour to Chinese stir-fry or that special tang when pickled ginger is served with sushi.

Spice combinations often work to heighten flavours and ginger is most often used with cumin and coriander in savoury dishes.

Indian cookery uses ginger to anchor the hot favours of garlic and mustard seed and give a lively glow to the whole range of Indian cuisine. In India shortages of spices or basic foodstuffs like onions will be front-page news. The demand is huge and ginger takes its place as an essential in most Indian meals.

Here are two of my favourite ginger recipes for drinks along with ginger-spiced food that I really enjoy: -

1. A refreshing summer drink
   • Peel and slice fresh ginger
   • Blend with plain yoghurt
   • Add a tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of salt

     Enjoy with a slice of Ginger cake.

2. Why not make your own ginger ale?
   • Finely chop 250gm of fresh ginger.
   • Bring 500ml of water to the boil and add your ginger.
   • Add 200gm of sugar.
   • Let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes and then rest for 5 minutes.
   • Use a colander to strain the resulting liquid, dispose of ginger residue.
   • Squeeze one half of a lime and add to your mixture.

     Put the liquid into the fridge in an airtight bottle until cold and your home-made Ginger Ale will be ready to drink. It will keep for weeks and provide you with a refreshing and healthy drink.

I also have a weakness for pickled ginger.

• Cook sliced ginger for a few minutes in lightly salted water.
• When drained flavour with sugar and rice vinegar at a proportion four Vinegar to one sugar.
• Cool and store in a closed jar in the fridge.

Whether you are using fresh, dried, powdered, preserved, pickled or crystallized Ginger this spice will provide a warm glow to any meal or beverage in which it’s used.

Return to Ginger Spice

Home Page - from - Ginger Recipes