Kencur

Kaempferia galanga, commonly known as kencur, aromatic ginger, sand ginger and cutcherry, is a monocotyledonous plant in the ginger family and one of four plants called galangal. It is found mainly in open areas in Indonesia, southern China, Taiwan, Cambodia and India, and is widely cultivated across Southeast Asia. It is used as a spice in Indonesia, where it is called kencur, and cekur in Malaysia, especially in Javanese and Balinese cooking. Beras kencur, which combines dried powder with rice flour, is a popular jamu herbal drink, and the leaves are used in the Malay rice dish nasi ulam. In Thai it is known as proh horm or waan horm, and it can be bought as a dried rhizome or powder at herbal medicine stalls. It is also used in Chinese cooking and Chinese medicine, sold in Chinese groceries as sha jiang.