November 30, 2010

Blue Rice versus Purple Rice

This is the bunga telang growing in my back yard fence....

My son has come up with purple rice - made from crushing purple cabbage and cooking it with rice...while adding some other Japanese touches.
The blue juice from rehydrating dried bunga telang is used to make this beautiful dish called Nasi Kerabu (or Salad Rice) which is an original recipe from Kelantan - one of the states of Malaysia. Unknown to a lot of people this rice dish is now getting very popular every where in Malaysia and even Singapore. Nasi Kerabu is very tasty because tasty ingredients like fried Ikan Bilis and hot chili sambal are added. Salted eggs enhance its indigenous taste. And the seven raw vegetables which can be used to mix with the blue rice makes this fantastic salad rice very healthy and refreshing.
fresh raw salads cucumber- long beans- pineapple/bunga kechala or kentang-beansprouts- angle beans-jicama- lettuce (all finely sliced)A spoonful of budu or fish sauce adds to its great taste too. And do prepare some salted fish to go with the wonderful one dish meal......The dressing at the top of the rice is kerisik or fried grated coconut.



Another bloom.....



I often buy items in blue colour. So I have blue cups and glasses at home. I have blue basins and I have blue blankets too. Now I have blue flowers drying in my blue basin.....The dried flowers can be kept in a large bottle. To use...soak enough flowers in hot water  for a few minutes and use the blue water. So if we have blue bunga telang we do not have to use the blue colouring which comes in a bottle. Now I can go make pulut inti....or even kuih tai tai.


More notes on Bunga Telang

Bunga Telang is Blue Pea Flower [ Clitoria Flower ] is a common ingredient used as natural food dye for making nonya kuehs such as the Pulut Inti, Pulut Tai Tai and Nasi Kerabu.  The Blue Pea Flower that grows from a creeper plant blooms in only 6 weeks from seed and it blooms all year long. 

It likes a rich, moist soil and intermediate temperatures, but it can stands up well in our hot Asia temperatures. I have my creepers growing in my backyard which provides an ideal sun condition: full sun to partial shade, it likes to be shaded from the hot afternoon sun. I have to remember to pinch the ends all the time to keep it bushy.(I have already sent some seeds to Sibu and I hope my friends will soon be cooking up a storm!!)

I hope Yi Fang (See Hua Daily) will help spread this flower and plant in Sibu through her good friends. I would be delighted if Payung in Sibu will also make Nasi Kerabu in the future.

So now you get the idea of colouring your rice - blue Nyonya style or purple Perth style.

Hope you would experiment with colours in your kitchen.


10 comments:

blee said...

purple rice..that's new..

Anonymous said...

Very organic! Don't have to use artificial colouring. Sometimes I wonder what is in all the kek lapis that makes it attractive - artificial colouring only!! What is kek lapis without the colour! Perhaps they should start make organic kek lapis with natural colourings: blue from bunga telang, red from anatto, green from bunga telang, yellow from kunyit. You have all the primary colours (blue, green and red) and mixed them to get secondary colours!!

Ah Ngao said...

now that answers my ??? over why some kuih salak are little bit bluish (the pulut). you noticed that,some of the bottom part(the rice)of kuih salak is bluish in color

fufu said...

wow... but the colour of the rice not that attractive... ><

Ensurai said...

Blee
the purple rice is made with purple cabbage...

Ensurai said...

Dear Anonymous

Very organic indeed...very good ideas.thanks for visiting.

Ensurai said...

Ah Ngao...I think Kuih Salak is usually green in colour..may be one day people will make the top blue...Interesting.In Malacca many Nyonya make their bak chang blue or purple in colour nowadays.

Ensurai said...

Fufu
thanks for visiting...people are beginning to try using plants to colour their food....like Neopolitan icecream - three colurs. Now yam is used to colour icecream purple..and pandan to colour green ice cream..dotted with chocolate rice...very nice indeed.

Ah Ngao said...

yes,kuih salak top is still gren but what i mean is,the pulut rice below is bluish or purplish - i came across a few times in Kuching here.may be the trend havent invaded the shore of Miri...hehe

Ensurai said...

Thanks Ah Ngao for pointing that out...no we still have only the blue nasi kerabu because of one aunty who sells it in Pasar Tani...no kuih tai tai yet.

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