Spring greens curry
and new Substack Live series coming for paid subscribers
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It is mother’s day in USA and Australia today. I tend to play greeting card days down, there’s so much noise, why add to it? But I did want to wish all the women out there, mother or not, a day of relaxation and contentment. Over the years, I have realized that you don’t have to have birthed children, or to be raising kids, to be a mother. Many of my friends who one might describe as the most ‘mothering’ and nurturing, do not have children. Mother is a noun but it is also a verb. We can be mother to our friends, to our pets, to the earth, to the community. Mothering comes in many forms, and that is what I celebrate today.
🫛
Like most people, I love the unshackling that Spring brings. The first moment when the sun hits my bare arms feels like a rebirth. I let the gentle air caress my skin and I soak up the colours of nature that have suddenly appeared. The season’s first vegetables are also cause for celebration. Spring’s offerings though are the most ephemeral of the vegetable world. Ramps, fiddlehead ferns, nettle, wild green garlic disappear almost as abruptly as they appear. Rhubarb too, though they a little longer, just enough for us to miss them.
Early spring comes with a flurry. We clamor for the first asparagus and nab bags of sugar snaps and snow peas. The first spears of asparagus are expensive but I indulge anyway because I have waited long enough. Rotund pods bulging with fava beans tempt me and I capitulate; each spring, I buy exactly one bag of fava beans which I will laboriously shell, before the reality of the work required forces me back to the frozen ones.
Spring produce begs us to be gentle. They can be eaten raw, juicy and crispy, or gently sautéed to unlock their delciate sweetness. The love lemon, mint, dill, feta. These are the fresh and lively notes of spring.
But often I want more. I want these crunchy sweet things to bring heft too. This week, I had a curry in mind, but a gentler version with a homemade paste made of lemongrass, ginger, garlic, coriander and spices. Store bought curry pastes are my weeknight go-tos, but a homemade one gives me more control over the narrative - in this instance, mildly spiced, citrusy from the lemongrass and floral from the coriander. A teaspoon of turmeric delivers flavour depth and colour brightness.
ps. I mentioned that this week’s newsletter would be about the importance of cookbooks, but I’ve decided to write a slightly bigger story on this topic, so that will come soon.
New this week at NYT Cooking is this gorgeous yuzu-miso asparagus tart. In fact, this recipe debuted here on this newsletter a few years ago and now, here she is available to all. The free gift link is here and watch me make it below.
Substack Live: Let’s Linger #1: Thursday 21 May, 12pm
Next week, Thursday 21 May, 12pm, I’ll be hosting my first Substack live series called Let’s Linger, where I’ll be cooking a recipe from my book and generally chit chatting about salads, the joy of eating together and more. This cooking demo will be for paid subscribers. If you can’t join me live, don’t worry, I’ll be sending the video to everyone after the class.
Weigh in on what you’d like me to cook first:
I’ll announce the winning recipe next week and if you have the book, I hope you’ll cook along with me!
Spring greens curry
© Recipe copyright Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love, 2026
This recipe is adaptable to whatever spring veg you have to hand - I used a total of about one pound (450g) of spring greens (snow peas, sugar snaps and fava beans) but you could easily substitute with the same amount of asparagus, peas, hakurei turnips, spinach, or any vegetables you need to use up in the fridge.
This spice paste is such a lovely recipe to add to your repertoire. A homemade paste allows you to control the spice and heat, a good thing if you have members of your household that don’t enjoy spiced or spicy things. Of course, if you are not inclined to make the spice paste from scratch, feel free to use a store bought green curry paste.
Leftover spice paste keeps well in an airtight jar in the fridge - just drizzle a bit of oil on top - for up to 3 weeks, or frozen for up to 3 months.
For those living in the Southern Hemisphere, switch up the vegetables - see my substitution notes below. It will work just as well. Just use equal amounts of vegetables and adjust cook time accordingly.