How to Work With Fresh Ginger: When I started teaching my virtual cooking classes, I realized not everyone knows how to cut their veggies and ingredients properly. It’s not that there is a right or wrong way of doing it, so when I say the proper way, I am referring to the safe way. The end result is the same, but there is a chance to slip and cut yourself if you are not working safely, especially with a knobby root like ginger.
I have created this quick video to show you how to slice and grate fresh ginger:
You may have heard that fresh ginger has many health benefits. It has both anti-inflammatory as well as antioxidant properties, and can play a role in helping the body reduce swelling and prevent the spread of illness. Ginger has also long been used to counteract upset stomach. My mom always used to give me ginger ale when I was sick. Not quite as good as the fresh ginger as I think there is very little actual ginger in the soda, even in our favorite Canada Dry brand, it always made me feel better.
Ginger belongs to the same family of spice as turmeric, cardamom, and galangal. I would even go so far as to say to use it as a substitute in a recipe where galangal is listed as an ingredient. I love to make Asian inspired dishes so I use a lot of ginger when making stir fries, rice dishes and noodle dishes.
Fresh ginger is a key aromatic in Asian cooking so most dishes start with ginger and garlic. I use the grating method you see in the video to grate both my ginger and garlic. When it’s grated so finely, it can burn easily, so I usually start with my onion in the hot pan and allow it to soften before adding my ginger and garlic. I let the flavors release for about 30 seconds before I add in the next ingredient.
Typically it’s the vegetables I am using in the dish that go into the pan in accordance with how long they take to cook, starting with the harder/longer cooking vegetables first. If I am adding ground meat to the dish, I will have cooked it fully in advance while breaking it apart and I will add it back to the pan once the veggies are done.
Then it’s time to add the sauce. Most sauces are a combination of soy sauce, water, sambal oelek, sugar and crushed red pepper. The sauce goes over the entire mixture to coat. If I want a thicker sauce, I will add a slurry of cornstarch and water to my sauce before adding it to the dish. Once it hits the heat, it will start to thicken slightly. I don’t use a lot of cornstarch as I don’t like my sauce too thick.
If you are eating grains, I serve a stir fry like this over rice, typically brown rice and sometimes I will add rice noodles or ramen noodles. If you are not eating grains, you can skip them or you can use cauliflower rice as the base to the dish.
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I also make an amazing ginger cookie but instead of fresh ginger, I prefer ground ginger for baking. I like the way the ground spices distribute in the batter versus the fresh. I get asked all of the time about substituting ground spices for fresh and the short answer is I almost always prefer fresh as the flavor is so vibrant. But if you are using a substitution in a recipe, you will want to use about half the amount of dry as you would fresh and the dried spices are more intense in flavor.
My ginger cookies are simple. Here are the ingredients and their measurements:
1⁄4 cup butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1⁄4 cup molasses
2 1⁄4 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
teaspoon baking soda
3⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2-1 cup white sugar
dash ginger and cinnamon
This dough does not need to rest. Just form the cookies with a cookie scoop and flatten and coat the top in the mixture of white sugar and ginger and cinnamon from the end of the list of ingredients. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!
The possibilities for ginger is endless. I hope you try out these recipes. Please let me know how you like them at debbie@theeffortlesskitchen.com. And if you like these tips you may enjoy one of my classes. Click this link to see my seasonal menu of live virtual cooking classes.
See you in the kitchen!
Debbie
DEBBIE BROSNAN
Debbie is a personal chef turned virtual cooking class instructor. She started The Effortless Kitchen in 2019 making dinners in her client’s homes and transitioned to virtual due to Covid. Debbie is a passionate self taught home cook who began her journey cooking along side her mother and grandmother as a young child. Her focus is on healthy food that tastes amazing using simple recipes so that those who take her classes will continue to make those dishes and others in their own kitchens. The Effortless Kitchen offers weekly classes, custom parties and corporate events and all are virtual, interactive and fun. Recorded classes are now offered for those who cannot make the live events. Culinary travel is being added into the mix in 2022 with the first adventure in March to Napa. Debbie is thrilled with the shift in her business as she can reach more people and share her gift with everyone. Through The Effortless Kitchen’s classes, Debbie is creating a community of people who are both comfortable and uncomfortable in the kitchen all brought together by the common thread of food.
