Galangal, also known as blue ginger, or in Vietnamese, Riềng. It is a rhizome with culinary and medicinal uses, best known in the west for its appearance in Thai cuisine and other Southeast Asian cuisine. Though it resembles (and is related to) ginger in appearance, it tastes little like ginger. In its raw form, galangal has a soapy, earthy aroma and a pine-like flavor with a faint hint of citrus

Sliced dried galangal, needs to be soaked in hot water for about 20 min. then it can be used like fresh galangal.