Thai Spices and Herbs: Galangal, Lemongrass, Makrut Lime, Thai Basils and Bird’s Eye Chiles

Most of what makes Thai food taste Thai never sits in a spice jar. The character comes from fresh aromatics: galangal, lemongrass and makrut lime leaf pounded into curry pastes or simmered in soups, three different basils, cilantro (root and all), and small, very hot chiles. The basil that gives phat kaphrao its name isn’t the one sold as Thai basil, and cilantro roots get pounded into pastes too. Each entry below links to the full profile.

At a glance

Galangal

Galangal is the reddish brown rhizome of plants in the Alpinia genus, a ginger relative also sold as Siamese or Thai ginger. Its Thai name is kha, and it tastes strong and pungent, like a mix of pepper and ginger. Thailand, Indonesia and India are the main suppliers. A tom kha kai recipe from Northern Illinois University’s Southeast Asia site uses six thin slices of young galangal.¹ See galangal, galangal vs. ginger and galangal substitutes.

Lemongrass

Lemongrass tastes of rich lemon without the sourness, and its tough stalks are usually steeped in oils or liquids and then pulled out. In Thailand, Laos and Vietnam it gets pounded with garlic and makrut lime leaf into curry pastes. See lemongrass, cooking with lemongrass and lemongrass substitutes.

Makrut lime leaves

The leaves of Citrus hystrix season food, and Thai cooks call the fruit makrut. Many English-language cooks now use that name too, because “kaffir” is a racist slur in South Africa.² SBS Food reports one Sydney Thai chef bruising the leaves into coconut and tom yum soups and slicing them fine for Panang, green and hor mok curry pastes. You’ll often read that the leaves freeze with no loss of quality, but we found no source for that. See makrut lime leaves and substitutes.

Three basils

A 2018 study analyzed five basils eaten in Thailand,³ and three show up most often in recipes.

• Horapha (Thai basil) is the Thai name for Ocimum basilicum, an important ingredient in Thai cooking. In the study, anise and citrus scents dominated its oil.³ See Thai basil.
• Kaphrao (holy or hot basil) is the herb that gives phat kaphrao its name. It’s peppery with a distinctive aroma. In the study, methyl eugenol led the red holy basil oil, followed by beta-caryophyllene.³ See holy basil and Thai basil vs. holy basil.
• Maenglak (lemon basil) is the Thai name PROSEA gives for Ocimum americanum, whose young leaves are eaten raw as a side vegetable.⁴ See lemon basil.

Cilantro

The taproots of the coriander plant are eaten as a vegetable in China and Thailand. The leaves go on raw as a garnish, and the roots get pounded into pastes. See cilantro and coriander vs. cilantro.

Bird’s eye chiles

“Bird’s eye” is a loose label. It gets used for almost any small, pointed, very hot chile. Dave DeWitt’s heat scale puts the Thai prik khee nu at 30,000 to 50,000 SHU.⁵ We found no source for the 130,000 SHU figure you’ll sometimes see for Thai chiles. See cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes for other dried chile heat.

Fingerroot

Fingerroot, Boesenbergia rotunda, is called krachai in Thailand. Katzer writes that Thai cooking is the only cuisine where it’s an important flavoring.⁶ See fingerroot.

Cassia

Cassia bark shows up in some Thai dishes, massaman curry among them. The Chinese cassia tree grows in southern China, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. We found no source for the claim that cassia is the only cinnamon used in Thai cooking. See cassia cinnamon and Ceylon vs. cassia cinnamon.

Ginger

Ginger goes in alongside galangal in Thai cooking, but the two don’t taste the same and aren’t interchangeable. See ginger and galangal vs. ginger.

Related pages

• Thai cardamom
• Korean spices, Japanese spices and Indian spices
• Curry paste vs. curry powder
• The master list of herbs and spices