‘Nobody expects a veg dish to be this good’: Nat Thaipun’s crowd-pleasing Thai curry sauce

This is an absolute crowd-pleaser – less a strict “recipe” and more a technique you’ll be reaching for all through spring and well into summer. In Thailand, it’s super common to eat raw or lightly blanched veg dipped into rich, curry-style pastes – we call them “dips”.

This takes that same delicious idea and turns it into a drizzly, buttery sauce with a nice little kick. It’s built to sit over whatever looks best at the market that week – asparagus is the star today, but it’s just as good with spring beans, sugar snaps, or charred baby zucchini (or big ones – no judgment). Anything with a bit of snap and sweetness holds up to this sauce. Serve it as a killer side, a light main, or bring it to a barbecue – nobody ever expects a veg dish to be this good.

2 bunches asparagus, woody ends trimmed (swap in spring beans or snap peas)

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Blanch the asparagus or your chosen vegie for 60-90 seconds until it’s bright green and just tender, then shock in iced water. Strain, pat dry, toss with a little oil and salt and set aside or char on a hot grill pan for extra colour just before serving.

In a saucepan over medium heat, add the oil and coconut cream. Allow the cream to split – it will shift from a smooth, opaque white to a glistening, oily surface with tiny bubbles along the edges. As it cooks off, clear pools of oil will visibly separate and the aroma will become richly fragrant and nutty. Just as it splits, turn the heat down slightly to stop it from spitting, then add the Panang curry paste. Fry, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes until deeply flavoursome, fragrant and the oil turns red.

Pour in the stock, fish sauce and brown sugar. Simmer gently for 5 minutes to let the flavours come together.

Take off the heat. Using a whisk or hand blender, add the cold butter, a few cubes at a time, until the sauce is glossy and emulsified (see below). Don’t let it boil again or it will split.

Stir through the makrut lime leaves and lemon juice. Taste and adjust – it should be rich, a little sweet, salty and bright all at once.

Plate the vegies and generously drizzle with the curry butter sauce. Finish with sliced chilli, crushed nuts of your choice, and a fine grating of lemon zest.

Emulsifying involves forcing two things that don’t naturally want to mix – such as oil and water – to create a smooth, glossy sauce. Instead of building a heavy curry, I let the coconut cream split first, then whisk in cold butter right at the end. If we don’t split the coconut cream properly at the start, it will split later in the sauce. That’s what gives the sauce its velvety mouthfeel, the kind that coats your tongue but never feels too greasy. (It’s important to note that not everything has to be emulsified. Curries are always split in Thailand and that is the beauty in those curries, however in some of my recipes I’ve purposefully emulsified the sauces, merging more traditional European techniques with Thai flavours.)

In the method, letting the coconut cream “split” means cooking out the water until the natural oil separates and starts to glisten. It’s a classic South-East Asian cooking technique, not a mistake.