Nat Thaipun has launched a new recipe column, The Foundations, designed to give home cooks the confidence to experiment with Thai food and other cuisines without fearing mistakes.
The former MasterChef Australia winner and cookbook author said the series would focus on practical techniques, helping readers develop the skills needed to cook more instinctively and become less self-critical in the kitchen.
“I want to give people the confidence to cook not just Thai food but any kind of food, and not be hard on themselves,” Thaipun said. “Often I find people not wanting to cook because they feel like they’re doing the wrong thing.”
Her first recipe is a Panang curry butter sauce that can be drizzled over vegetables or used as a base for fusion dishes. The sauce is quick to prepare, but requires care when combining coconut cream and cold butter to prevent the mixture from splitting.
Thaipun will use the column to explain how to adapt recipes, recover from errors and balance flavours. She will also explore how to identify what a sauce may be missing, skills that can be applied to cooking more broadly.
Building confidence with Thai cooking techniques
The series is intended for both beginners and more experienced cooks, with each instalment adding another technique to a growing kitchen toolkit. Thaipun hopes readers will eventually feel able to create meals from whatever they have in the fridge and pantry, without relying on precise measurements or a fixed recipe.
“You should be allowed to have the freedom to experiment because you never know what you’re going to come up with,” she said.
Thaipun described adaptability as an important part of cooking and said there were many different ways to prepare food. The Foundations will continue with a summer instalment after the opening Panang curry butter sauce recipe.
