Yor (in Thai)=Morinda citrifolia Linn or Noni

Yor (Noni) or Morinda citrifolia Linn. is a tropical plant native in Southeast Asia.

It is known to the people as a beneficial food. Typically its fruit's juice is taken as a drink to enhance bodily function and support overall good health. It is widely known as the "Aspirin of the Ancient". It's been successfully used for over 2,000 years in Polynesia, China India and elsewhere and grows best wherever there is pollution free volcanic soil. Botanically the fruit is called: Morinda Citrifolia. It grows on a shrub type tree and the size of the fruit is about the same size as a medium avocado pear. The skin has warts on it similar to a pomegranate. The shrub shows fruit some 10 months after planting. There are so many scientific and medical reports concerning about its beneficial properties as:

• Immunomodulator
• Antimicrobial
• Analgesic
• Antimutagenic
• Anti-inflammatory
• Adaptogen
• Anticancers
• Anti-ulcers

Scientific reports have been published on the therapeutic health benefits of Yor (Noni) especially with regard to its remarkable anti-cancer and analgesic properties. The extract inhibited inflammation by 99.38%, making it more effective than Pfizer’s best selling anti-inflammatory drug, Feldene (PIROXICAM) that inhibits inflammation by 99.12%. Some of the vital phyto-nutrients contained in Noni that provide nourishment to cells, tissues and organs, fight free radicals, ward off disease, and potentially mitigate or reverse the effects of aging and pollution are:

• Polysaccharides: stimulate and modulate immune system
• Selenium: an important anti-oxidant
• Anthraquinones: antiseptic and anti-bacterial, anticancers, stimulate T-cells to kill cancer cells, prevent DNA damage
• Scopoletin: anti-inflammatory, anti-histamine, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial
• Terpene: detoxicant agent.
• Limonene: taste bitter but a cancer fighter

In Thailand Yor leaf has been used for cooking for many kinds of dishes; for example:

Hor Mok Pla Chawnn Bai-Yaw (Steamed Serpent Fish Curry with Indian Mulberry Leaf (Yor leaf))

Main Ingredient

Fish meat 1 cup (250 g.)
Chilli paste (50 g.)
Krachai (finger root) (20 g.)
Coconut milk (200 g.)
Fish sauce (5 g.)
Eggs 1 egg
Mulberry leaves (no vein) (60 g.)
Sliced kaffir lime leaves (1 g.) (topping)
Sliced red chilli (1 g.) (topping)
Coconut Cream for topping
Coconut milk (75 g.)
Rice flour (2 g.)

* 30 grams = 1oz. , 1kilogram = 2.24 lbs.
2 cups, 60 g each* Serve size 4 persons

Cooking Method

• Pound krachai (finger root) until fine, add chilli paste, mix thoroughly.
• Mix chilli paste with 2 cups of coconut milk, add fish fillets, cut into thin slices, toss, add the remaining coconut milk a little at a time, seasoning with fish sauce, break the egg, stir well.
• Line bottom of the banana leaf cups with 6 g of mulberry leaves, fill each cup with 55 g mixture (35 g fish meat + chilli paste).
• Prepare coconut cream by dissolve rice flour in coconut milk, bring to a boil by using lower heat, stir until sticky, allow 4 minutes.
• Heat steamer until boil, line the cups in the tray, steam for 15 minutes,
• Drop 1/4 teaspoon (24 g) coconut cream on the top, sprinkle each with kaffir lime leaves, chilli and steam 2-3 minutes more.

TaKrai=Lemongrass

Lemon grass is widely used as a herb in Asian (particularly Vietnamese, Hmong, Khmer, Thai, Lao, Malaysian, Indonesian, Philippine, Sri Lankan) and Caribbean cooking. It has a citrus flavour and can be dried and powdered, or used fresh. The stalk itself is too hard to be eaten except for the soft inner part. However, it can be finely sliced and added to recipes. It may also be bruised and added whole as this releases the aromatic oils from the juice sacs in the stalk. The main constituent of lemongrass oil is citral, which makes up around 80% of the total.
Lemon grass is commonly used in teas, soups, and curries. It is also suitable for poultry, fish, and seafood. It is often used as a tea in African and Latino-American.

Lemon grass is mostly used in Thai food for example Tom yum and curries. Research also shows that lemon grass oil is used in aromatherapy for its calming effect to help relieve nervous tension and stress. Lemongrass in some cases has been used as a mild depressant for the central nervous system.

Lemongrass is also used for the production of citronella oil, which is used in soaps, as a mosquito repellent in insect sprays and candles, and also in aromatherapy. The principal chemical constituents of citronella, geraniol and citronellol, are antiseptics, hence their use in household disinfectants and soaps. Besides oil production, citronella grass is also used for culinary purposes, in tea and as a flavoring

The use of Lemongrass in Thaifood: Kinds of Tom yum, Tom Kha Kai and all curries

Makrood, Magrood or Makrut=Kaffir lime

The kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix DC., Rutaceae), also known as kieffer lime, makrut, or magrood, is a type of lime native to Indonesia, commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisine, and widely grown worldwide as a backyard shrub.
The kaffir lime is a rough, bumpy green fruit that grows on very thorny bush with aromatic leaves. It is well suited to container growing. The green lime fruit is distinguished by its bumpy exterior and its small size (approx. 4 cm wide).

Its hourglass-shaped leaves (comprising the leaf blade plus a flattened, leaf-like leaf-stalk or petiole) are widely used in Thai cuisine (for dishes such as tom yum), Lao cuisine, and Cambodian cuisine, for the base paste known as "Krueng". The leaves are also popular in Indonesian cuisine (especially Balinese and Javanese), for foods such as sayur assam - literally sour vegetables, and are also used along with Indonesian bay leaf for chicken and fish. They are also found in Malay and Burmese cuisines.
The leaves can be used fresh or dried, and can be stored frozen.
The juice and rinds of the kaffir lime are used in traditional Indonesian medicine; for this reason the fruit is sometimes referred to in Indonesia as jeruk obat - literally "medicine citrus". The oil from the rind also has strong insecticidal properties.
The zest of the fruit is widely used in creole cuisine and to impart flavor to "arranged" rums in the Réunion island and Madagascar.