Serves: 4 

• 145ml coconut cream
• 1 400ml tin of coconut milk
• 20ml fish sauce
• 25g palm sugar, roughly chopped (or light soft brown sugar)
• 500g asparagus, cut into 3cm lengths, keeping the tips separate (or green beans)
• 500g peeled raw prawns
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Cucumber and Ginger Relish

• 125ml rice (or other white) vinegar 
• 80g caster sugar
• 1/2 cucumber, quartered lengthwise, deseeded and thinly sliced (200g)
• 20g ginger, peeled and julienned
• 1 red chilli (or 2 bird's-eye chillies, if you like the heat), halved, deseeded and thinly sliced lengthways
• 10g coriander, stems finely chopped, leaves roughly torn
• 1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve
• salt

Spice Paste

• 5g dried red chillies (or more, if you like)
• 1/2 tsp whole white peppercorns, toasted and coarsely ground
• 2 tsp coriander seeds, toasted and coarsely ground
• 1-2 shallots, roughly chopped (60g)
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 20g coriander stems, roughly chopped
• 10g fresh turmeric, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp coconut cream

• Step 1 First make the relish. Put the vinegar and sugar into a small saucepan, along with 60ml of water and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer for a minute, stirring once or twice, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and, once cool, add the cucumber, ginger, chilli and coriander stems. Transfer to a sealed container and keep in the fridge.
• Step 2 To make the spice paste, place the dried chillies in a small bowl, cover with boiling water and set aside for a few minutes. Put the ground white peppercorns and coriander seeds into the small bowl of a food processor, along with the shallots, garlic, coriander stems, turmeric, coconut cream, soaked chillies and 1 tablespoon of the chilli-soaking liquid. Blend to form a smooth purée, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times.
• Step 3 Put the 145ml of coconut cream into a medium saucepan and place on a medium-high heat. When it begins to simmer, add the spice paste and cook for 15–20 minutes, stirring frequently until thick, clotted and oily. Add the coconut milk, sugar, fish sauce and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Stir gently, then bring to a simmer. Add the asparagus stalks, cook for 4 minutes, then add the prawns and asparagus tips. Cook for another 3–5 minutes, until the prawns are just cooked through, and serve.

Getting ahead: The relish is best made a day ahead of serving and kept refrigerated. Hold back on the coriander leaves, though, stirring these through just before serving.

What You'll Need