Hot and Spicy Flavor with Fragrant Smell: Chillies, Coriander seeds, cardamoms, cloves, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, pepper,deeplee (a kind of long pepper ), kaprao (a kind of sweet basil), karachai (kaempferia pendurata), bai maenglak (a kind of sweet basil )and phakphai (or phakphaew, a kind of fragrant leaves of polygonum odortum Lour. family).

Giving Pleasing, Sweet and Sour Flavor: Tamarind, maadun, lime, maaeyk (a kind of bush of Solanum stramonifolium Jacq.), maaeyk (a kind of sour fruit whose family is Feronieslla lucida Swing.), rakam (a kind of red, sour edible fruit), taalingpling (a kind of sour fruit whose family is Averrhoa bilimbi Linn.), somkhaeg (a kind of sour fruit), somsiew (another kind of sour fruit), namtaantanoad (sugar made from taan palm) and namtaanmaapraow (sugar made from coconut palm)

Coloringl: young chillies, red and yellow chillies, turmeric, pumpkin, wild tomato, anchan flowers (a kind of flower with its dark blue colour growing of a creeping plant), various kinds of eggplants, Sokaanaam flowers (orange color flowers of the Asoka of indica Linn. family).

All of the local vegetables mentioned above, either dried ot fresh, are valuable to Thai main dishes and desserts. Thai vegetables and local Thai herbs are both food and medicine.

The North of Thailand

Queen of vegetables of the North is Phaak Chiangda. Its fresh leaves are creamy with a sweet, fragrant flavour when fully boiled.

1.Kaeng Kae Kai Sai Chiangda (Chicken Curry with Kae flowers and Chiangda leaves)

Medicinal value: the Chiangda leaves help relieve the body's high temperature, nourish chemical elements and reduce sugar level in blood.

2.Lhaam Bon (Roasted Bamboo stuffed with certain kinds of Norhern meat and young leaves of "Bon" plants)

Medicinal value: Lhaam Bon helps improve the digestion

3.Nam Prig Oong (a kind of chilli sauce of northen style)

Vegetables to dip in : Cucumbers, long-podded cowpea, Kraathin (a kind of young leaves of the krathin bush of the Leuceana leucocephala de Wit family), Thuapu (a kind of green, long bean), etc. Various kinds of boiled vegetables are taken side by side. Among those are eggplants, phakbung (an aquatic morning glory), huapli (the flower cluster of the banana tree), tops and flowers of kae (white or red flowers of the kae tree), pumpkin and green melon.

Medicinal value: Nam Prig Oong with many vitamins from vegetables helps stimulate appetite, and improve digestion.

4.Saa Hua Pli (or Hua pli Yam)

Medicinal value: The astringent and cool flavor of Hua Pli helps the colon's digesting system and cures anemia.

5.Saa Maa Khuea (or Eggplant Yam)