Thai cuisine requires special ingredients which may not be available to everyone.
All metro cities have malls stocked with all exotic ingredients.
Residents of smaller towns are not blessed with this luxury.
Most ingredients can be substituted with alternatives from the Indian kitchen.
LEMON GRASS
If you don’t have Thai lemon grass, our Indian variety will work as well.
Use the thick bottom part of the Indian lemon grass stems.
KAFFIR LIME LEAVES
Use grated lemon rind, only the yellow part and NOT the inner white part.
A special grater or lemon rind ’’zester’’ is best for obtaining this.
GALANGAL (THAI GINGER)
If you don’t have it, then omit it altogether.
Do NOT use Indian ginger instead.
Also the flavour of galangal is alien to the Indian palate.
Add only 1/4 of the quantity mentioned in the recipe, during your maiden attempts
at Thai cooking.If you like the flavour, you may boldly add more next time.
NAM PLA (FISH SAUCE)
You may use half a crumbled fish cube (Knorr, will do) as a substitute.
Vegetarians had better omit this.It has a very, very fishy odour.
Use a few drops of soya sauce instead.
BIRD EYE CHILLIES
Use any dried, red chillies instead.
MACROOT LEAVES
Sorry, I couldn’t get them.
Unable to comment on a substitute for them.
COCONUT MILK
The best option is to use coconut milk extracted from a fresh, scraped coconut.
When in a hurry, use coconut milk powder (Maggi is freely available)to prepare
reconstituted coconut milk.
Those uninitiated in Thai cuisine should begin with Tom Yum soup - a clear soup
with veggies and chicken/shrimps flavoured with lemon grass and kaffir lime
leaves.