How to Chop Ginger
Step-by-step instructions for perfectly chopped ginger.
One important reason why you should chop ginger manually rather than with a food processor is you maintain tighter control over the size and consistency of the final ginger product. Another reason is the blades in food processors are rarely sharp enough to properly cut through the hard fibers that run through mature ginger.
1. Peel the skin off of the amount of ginger you would like to use. You can peel ginger with a vegetable peeler, by slicing the skin off with a knife or with a spoon.
2. Using a standard, sharp kitchen knife slice the ginger very thin. The thinner the slices, the smaller the final dice will be. Try to be as consistent in the thickness of the slices as possible.
3. Stack the slices on top of each other like a deck of cards.
4. Slice very thin strips out of the stack. Again, the thinner the slices, the smaller the dice will ultimately be. Having ginger that is chopped properly and is consistent in size increases the likelihood that the ginger will not burn in dishes like stir fry. In addition, the ginger will distribute more evenly throughout your cooked dishes.
5. Turn the new stack of thinly cut strips of ginger and cut down one last time, making the slices as close together as the first two slices. At this point, you should have perfect small dice of ginger. If for some reason the dice do not seem small enough, try taking another pass over the ginger, and chop until it is as small you desire.