I’m Cameron Walker (Chef_Cerro), an angry Scotsman who is a Database Administrator by day and an amateur food critic and chef by night. By “chef” I really mean a home cook but that doesn’t sound very glamorous. Any time anyone mentions the word cook I think back to the days of the cheery school dinner lady; big on smiles, low on quality.
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Hey there, Chef! I’m planning on making your delicious looking Thai Green Curry. I have to make some substitutes because we live in a rural area. I plan to get serrano chiles instead of green birds eye chiles. How should I substitute the “large green chilies?”
Since I don’t have Kaffir Limes should I only use the zest from my regular limes, or do I use the juice as well?
Also, what are the colorful red ring-like things in the curry? Did you use a “green” chilie that was red? I want to give some color to my curry like yours has.
I also bought a lemon grass paste that uses fresh lemongrass but tastes pretty salty. Should I cut back on the fish sauce a little because of the saltiness of the paste?
Thanks so much for your consideration. I hope you’re able to respond quickly, because I hope to make this for a Valentines dinner on Friday, February 8 🙂
Hi Rebekah, I’m glad you like the look of the Thai Green Curry.
Regarding substitues, the large green chillies are meant to be quite mild, they add more flavour than heat so really any kind of mild green chilli will do! Kaffir Limes are more difficult to substitute, realistically, nothing replaces them like for like. But since there are a myriad of other ingredients in the curry you will get away with using regular limes, I’d suggest using only 1 instead of 2… zest and juice.
It’s hard to say how salty your lemongrass paste is and how much it will affect the dish – if you’re worried though, cutback on the fish sauce as you can always add a little bit towards the end of cooking if you think it is still required.
Yes I used red chillies for the picture, it was meant to be green but I think the chillies on my plant had all turned red by that point. Feel free to use red instead or try a red bell pepper – it won’t change the taste but it will add a little colour.
I hope it goes well for your Valentines dinner! Let us know how it works out.