I disagree on the chili peppers. I have not found an acceptable substitution for a Thai chili. My wife agrees. My last batch of curry chicken didn't have any Thai chili as they got lost in the pantry. Don't remember what I substituted but my wife said it wasn't the same as with 3 dried Thai in the coconut broth.
I was not suggesting that replacing Thai peppers was the same. I was saying that if you can not get them where you live that there are alternatives that can give you a close taste to what I have made. Believe me, I am growing a huge amount of chilies this year that most would never have heard of.
I tried last year but the weather and the barrel method did not work out as well as I hoped. This year I am setting up four large container gardens for peppers. I started 80 cells with various seeds about 6 days ago indoors and have three sprouting as of today.
In a month or so I will buy started pepper plants from local stores for the more common varieties.
This year should be a great one for my pepper varieties.