Fingerroot substitute

Best substitute

Frozen or Brined Krachai from an Asian Grocer

Use the same amount as the fingerroot you are replacing

Best for jungle curry

Close match

Almost every Thai grocer carries fingerroot either frozen and pre-julienned in a bag, or shredded in brine in a jar. Both are the real ingredient, and the frozen version is what most Thai kitchens outside Thailand actually use.

Other fingerroot substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Young Ginger Plus a Little Galangal
Different taste
3 parts ginger to 1 part galangal, used 1:1 for the fingerroot
Cut young ginger into fine matchsticks and add a smaller quantity of galangal sliced very thin.
What changes
Ginger supplies the crisp julienne and warmth, galangal supplies the piney sharpness.
Best for
jungle curry, pad cha, fish and seafood curries, stir-fries
The best improvisation and the one to use. What you get right is the texture and the resinous top note; what you lose is the bitter medicinal edge, so a jungle curry made this way tastes brighter, cleaner and noticeably less wild. That bitterness is precisely what cuts through the muddiness of freshwater fish, so if the dish contains catfish or tilapia expect it to taste a little fishier than intended and add an extra squeeze of lime.
3Galangal, Sliced Paper-Thin
Different texture
Use the same amount by volume
Fresh or frozen galangal cut as thin as you can manage, across the grain.
What changes
Both rhizomes share the same piney, camphorous aroma family.
Best for
jungle curry, curry pastes, soups, fish curries
The closest match on smell, since galangal and fingerroot are relatives with overlapping aromatic compounds. The problem is the eating: galangal is dense and woody where krachai is crisp and tender, so thick slices are unchewable and people end up picking them out. Slice paper-thin and accept that the pieces are there for aroma rather than to be eaten. Flavour-wise it is sharper and less bitter than krachai.
4Ginger Alone, Julienned
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume
Plain fresh ginger in fine matchsticks.
What changes
The pantry answer that most people will actually use.
Best for
stir-fries, curries, soups, everyday cooking
Ginger is warm, pungent and slightly sweet, and it does the crisp-matchstick job perfectly. What it entirely lacks is the bitter camphor note, so the dish reads as a ginger curry rather than a jungle curry. This is an acceptable everyday swap; just do not expect anyone who knows krachai to be fooled. Use young ginger if you can find it, since mature ginger is fibrous and hotter.
5Fresh Turmeric Root
Different taste
½ the amount, plus ginger to make up the volume
Fresh turmeric root, julienned.
What changes
Same botanical family as fingerroot, and closer to it than ginger is in earthy bitterness.
Best for
southern Thai curries, fish curries, curry pastes
The bitter, earthy register is genuinely in the right place, which no other easily available root manages. Two catches: it stains everything an aggressive yellow, including your curry, your board and your fingers, and its bitterness is musty rather than piney. Use half the amount and make up the rest with ginger. Very good in a southern-style fish curry, more of a stretch in a clear jungle curry.
6Dried Fingerroot Slices or Powder
Different texture
Use ½ tsp powder or 3 dried slices for every 1 Tbsp fresh
Sold in Asian herb shops and online.
What changes
Simmer dried slices in the curry and remove before serving, or stir powder into the paste.
Best for
curry pastes, soups, braises
The aroma and the bitterness survive drying reasonably well, so this covers the flavour job. The crunch does not survive at all, and in dishes like pad cha where julienned krachai is a visible, eaten component the loss is obvious. Powder can also turn slightly dusty and bitter if overused, so start with less than you think and taste.

What is Fingerroot?

Fingerroot is a ginger-family rhizome whose slim yellow fingers hang in a cluster from a central knob, known in Thai as krachai or grachai and in English as Chinese keys, lesser galangal or wild ginger, and in a curry or fish soup it supplies a peppery, faintly camphor-like aroma that cuts fishiness rather than the plain warm heat of ginger.

Cooking tips

Fingerroot's job is aroma and bitterness, not heat. Its specific purpose in Thai cooking is to cut the muddy, earthy taste of freshwater fish, frog and game, which is why it turns up in jungle curry, pad cha and kanom jeen nam ya and almost never in a coconut curry with chicken. If your dish has no muddy protein to fix, a plain ginger swap will pass easily; if it does, expect the fishiness to come through more.
It is eaten, not just infused. Krachai is normally cut into fine matchsticks and left in the dish, so choose substitutes that can be chewed. This is the reason ginger works better as a swap than galangal, which is too woody, even though galangal smells closer.
Do not peel it the way you peel ginger. The skin is thin, and most of the aroma sits just beneath it, so scrape lightly with a spoon or the back of a knife and leave the pale yellow flesh intact.
Add it late in a stir-fry and early in a curry. In pad cha the matchsticks go in during the last minute so they stay crisp and fragrant; in a simmered curry the aroma needs ten minutes or so to spread through the liquid.
Buy it once and freeze it. Fresh krachai is very hard to find in the West, but frozen pre-julienned bags are cheap, common in Thai grocers and keep about six months with most of the aroma intact. That is a far better answer than substituting every time.
Fingerroot naming is genuinely confusing. Krachai, grachai, Chinese keys, fingerroot and Boesenbergia rotunda all mean the same plant, and it is often mislabelled lesser galangal or wild ginger, which are different rhizomes. If you see slim finger-like fingers in a cluster, you have the right thing.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave fingerroot out?

In a curry with chicken, pork or vegetables, yes, and the dish will still be good. In a jungle curry or a fish dish it is doing a specific job, cutting the muddy taste of freshwater fish, so leaving it out makes the dish taste heavier and slightly fishy. In that case use julienned ginger with a little galangal rather than nothing, and add an extra squeeze of lime at the end.

Is ginger a good substitute for fingerroot?

It is the practical one, with a real limitation. Ginger matches the crisp matchstick texture and brings warmth, so it slots into the recipe cleanly. What it does not have is fingerroot's bitter, piney, faintly medicinal edge, which is the whole reason the ingredient exists. Adding a small amount of galangal alongside the ginger gets you most of the way there.

Is fingerroot the same as galangal?

No, though they are relatives and labels often confuse them. Galangal is a fat, banded, woody rhizome that is sliced for aroma and not eaten. Fingerroot is a cluster of slim tender fingers that are julienned and eaten, and it tastes more bitter and medicinal. Fingerroot is sometimes mislabelled lesser galangal, which adds to the confusion.

What does fingerroot taste like?

Like ginger crossed with something medicinal. There is the familiar warm rhizome character, then a distinct piney, camphor-like bitterness that is unusual in a Western pantry. It is crisp rather than fibrous, and pleasant to eat in matchsticks. That bitterness reads as strange on its own and makes complete sense in a jungle curry.

Can I use dried or powdered fingerroot?

Yes, for flavour. Use around half a teaspoon of powder or three dried slices per tablespoon of fresh, and add it early so it has time to soften and release aroma. You lose the crunch entirely, so it is better suited to simmered curries and pastes than to a stir-fry where the julienne is visible on the plate.

Related substitutes

More spices & herbs substitutes

Fingerroot substitute

Other fingerroot substitutes

2Young Ginger Plus a Little Galangal

3Galangal, Sliced Paper-Thin

4Ginger Alone, Julienned

5Fresh Turmeric Root

6Dried Fingerroot Slices or Powder