Thai dishes use a wide variety of herbs, spices and leaves rarely found in the West, such as kaffir lime leaves (bai makrut). The characteristic flavor of kaffir lime leaves appears in nearly every Thai soup (e.g., the hot and sour Tom yam) or curry from the southern and central areas of Thailand. The Thai lime (manao) is smaller, darker and sweeter than the kaffir lime, which has a rough looking
skin with a stronger lime flavor. Kaffir lime leaves are frequently combined with garlic (krathiam), galangal (kha), lemongrass (takhrai) and/or Thai lemon basil (maenglak), turmeric (khamin) and/or fingerroot (krachai), blended together with liberal amounts of various chillies to make curry paste. Fresh Thai basils are also used to add spice and fragrance in certain dishes such as Green curry, of which kraphao has a distinctive scent of clove and leaves which are often tipped with a maroon color. Further often used herbs in Thai cuisine include phak chi, (cilantro or coriander), rak phak chi (cilantro/coriander roots), culantro (phak chi farang), spearmint (saranae), and pandanus leaves (bai toei). Other spices and spice mixtures in Thai cuisine include phong phalo (five-spice powder), phong kari (curry powder), and fresh and dried peppercorns (phrik thai)
Het fang (straw mushrooms) for sale at a market
Besides kaffir lime leaves, several other tree leaves are use in Thai cuisine such as cha-om, the young feathery leaves of the Acacia pennata tree, used cooked in omelettes, soups and curries and raw in salads of the Northern Thai cuisine. Banana leaves are often used as packaging for ready-made food or as steamer cups such as in ho mok pla, a spicy paté made with fish and coconut milk. Banana flowers are also used in Thai salads or minced and deep fried in to patties. The leaves and flowers of the neem tree (sadao) are also eaten blanched. Five main chilies are generally used as ingredients in Thai food. One chili is very small (about 1.25 centimetres (0.49 in)) and is known as the hottest chili: phrik khi nu suan ("garden mouse-dropping chili"). The slightly larger chili phrik khi nu ("mouse-dropping chili") is the next hottest. The green or red phrik chi fa ("sky pointing chili") is slightly less spicy that the smaller chilies. The very large phrik yuak, which is pale green in color, is the least spicy and used more as a vegetable. Lastly, the dried chilies: phrik haeng are spicier than the two largest chilies and dried to a dark red color. Other typical ingredients are the several types of eggplant (makhuea) used in Thai cuisine, such as the pea-sized makhuea phuang and the egg-sized makhuea suai, often also eaten raw. Although broccoli is often used in Asian restaurants in the west in phat thai and rat na, it was never actually used in any traditional Thai food in Thailand and is still rarely seen in Thailand. Usually in Thailand, khana is used, for which broccoli is a substitute. Other vegetables which are often eaten in Thailand are thua fak yao (yardlong beans), thua ngok (bean sprouts), no mai (bamboo shoots), tomatoes, cucumbers, phak tam leung (Coccinia grandis), kha na (Chinese kale), phak kwangtung (choy sum), cha om (tender Acacia pennata leaves), sweet potatoes (used more as a vegetable), a few types of squash, phakatin (Leucaena leucocephala), sataw (Parkia speciosa), tua phū (Winged beans) and kapōt corn. Among the green leafy vegetables that are usually eaten raw in the meal or as a side dish in Thailand, the most important are: Phak b**g (morning-glory), hōrapha (Thai basil), bai bua bok (Asian pennywort), phak kachēt (water mimosa), phak kat khao (Chinese cabbage), kra thin Thai (ipil-ipil), phak phai (Praew leaves), phak kayang (Rice Paddy Herb), phak chī farang (Eryngium foetidum), phak tiu (Cratoxylum formosum), phak "phaai" (Yellow Burr Head) and kalampī (cabbage).[6] Some of these leaves are highly perishable and must be used within a couple of days
