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.