Makrut Lime in Thai Cooking

The makrut lime tree gives Thai cooks two ingredients: its glossy, hourglass-shaped double leaves (bai makrut) and its small, knobbly green fruit. The leaves have one of the most intense citrus perfumes of any plant. The fruit has very little juice; its value is in its thick, bumpy zest.

You may see it labelled kaffir lime. Makrut is the Thai name and is now preferred, as the older English name is an offensive term in some countries.

Pronunciation	ma-kroot
Flavour	Intense, floral citrus; the zest is bitter-aromatic
Used in	Tom yum, curries, tod man pla, curry pastes, salads
Substitute	Lime zest with a little bay leaf (only roughly similar)

Using the leaves

Torn: tear the leaves off the tough centre vein and drop them into soups and curries in the last minutes of cooking. Like lemongrass, they flavour the dish and are not usually eaten.
Shredded: stack a few leaves, roll them tightly and slice into hair-thin threads with a sharp knife. Thin threads are eaten in salads, scattered over red and panang curries, and mixed into tod man pla (fish cakes).
Fried: deep-fried leaves become crisp and fragrant, and are a garnish for fried fish and salads.

Using the fruit

The zest is grated or finely chopped and pounded into red, green, panang and other curry pastes. Only the green outer layer is used; the white pith below is bitter. The juice is very sour and bitter and is used mainly in traditional shampoos and cleaning, not cooking.

Buying and storing

Fresh leaves keep for one to two weeks in the fridge in a sealed bag. They freeze better than almost any other herb: keep a bag in the freezer and use them straight from frozen, they lose almost nothing. Dried leaves have very little flavour. The fruit is harder to find; frozen fruit and zest from Asian grocers work well in pastes.

Cook’s tip
Buy a large bag of fresh leaves whenever you find them, and freeze them. They will last for months and you will always have the scent of tom yum on hand.

Recipes with Makrut Lime