Name: Nasi Kerabu (Kelantan Blue Herb Rice)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Malaysian
Ingredients: ¾ cup Rice, rinsed; 8 Butterfly Pea Flowers, dried or fresh; 180 g Mackerel, cleaned pieces; 2 Egg, boiled and halved; ½ cup Freshly Grated Coconut, lightly toasted; ½ cup Cucumber, julienned; ½ cup Cabbage, finely shredded; ¼ cup Yardlong Beans, thinly sliced; ¼ cup Mint Leaves, torn; 1 Lemongrass, tender lower part finely sliced; ½ tsp Shrimp Paste, belacan-style, toasted if preferred; 5 Dried Red Chili Peppers, soaked; ¼ cup Shallots, roughly chopped; 1½ tbsp Lemon Juice, divided; 1 tsp Palm Sugar, grated; 1 tsp Salt, divided

1 hr 5 mintotal

Prep 30 min · Cook 35 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Spice: Medium

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Method

Steep butterfly pea flowers in hot water until the water turns deep blue, then strain.
Cook the rinsed rice with the blue flower water and a little salt until fluffy.
Grill or pan-cook the mackerel with salt until fully cooked, then flake the flesh and remove bones.
Mix the flaked fish with toasted coconut, lemongrass, and a little lemon juice to make a fragrant fish-coconut topping.
Blend soaked chilies, shallots, shrimp paste, palm sugar, lemon juice, and salt into a thick sambal.
Serve the blue rice with fish-coconut topping, boiled egg, cucumber, cabbage, yardlong beans, mint leaves, and sambal.

How to tell it's done

The rice should be fluffy, the fish topping flaky and moist, and the raw vegetables crisp.

Getting it right

Tip

Keep the herbs fresh and finely sliced; nasi kerabu should taste bright, herbal, salty, spicy, and lightly smoky from the fish.

What to serve it with

Serve as a colorful lunch plate with extra sambal on the side.

Common mistakes

The rice comes out grey or purple rather than blue.: Steep the flowers in hot water, not boiling, and keep anything acidic away from the rice. Butterfly pea pigment shifts to purple with lime and dulls when boiled hard — the lemon belongs on the plate, not in the pot.
The plate tastes flat.: Toast the grated coconut properly for the kerabu topping. That deep, nutty coconut is what holds a plate of otherwise raw herbs and plain rice together, and pale untoasted coconut leaves it thin.

Substitutions

If butterfly pea flowers are unavailable, serve the herb rice plain rather than using artificial blue color.

Storing and reheating

Best assembled fresh. Blue rice keeps two days in the fridge and reheats with a splash of water. Sambal keeps two weeks refrigerated. The herb salad and toasted coconut topping should be made the same day.

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Ingredients