Nasi Kerabu

The Nasi Kerabu, a less popular (but no less delicious) cousin of the Nasi Lemak, is a dish where the superstar is... the rice! Dressed in a flamboyant blue by blue pea flower water, and drenched with flavor by Southeast Asian herbs, the rice is paired with torch ginger salad, salted egg, flaked fish and crackling shrimp crackers! Here’s a fun fact –did you know that Nasi Kerabu comes in a few colours? If blue is not your favorite colour, you could try yellow (from turmeric and cekur) or grey (from Mengkudu leaves).

Halal

No Milk

Halal

No Milk

Difficulty: Hard

Preparation: 40 min
Cook: 30 min
Clean up: min

Steps: 6 steps
23 Ingredients

Difficulty: Hard
Steps: 6 steps
23 Ingredients

Preparation: 40 min
Cook: 30 min
Clean up: min

Instructions

1. Cook rice and make torch ginger salad

In a rice cooker pot, pour in jasmine rice, kaffir lime leaves, galangal slices, ginger slices, 1 bruised lemongrass 800 ml water and 2 tbsp blue pea flower water.
If you do not have blue pea flower or prefer not using blue dye, you may omit it.
Let it cook according to rice cooker instructions.
Thinly slice 3 shallots, torch ginger and laksa leaves. Place them into a small bowl and toss well. Set aside.

| The rice can also be cooked with plain white rice or rice cooked using turmeric. Not necessary to use the dried red chillyfor the ‘sambal

2. Make and fry rempah (spice paste)

In a blender, blend dried chili, 4 shallots, garlic, candlenut, 2 lemongrass, belacan, 3 tbsp white sugar and 1 tbsp salt until smooth.
If mixture is too dry, you can use vegetable oil to help you achieve a smooth consistency.In a pan, fry blended paste for 10 minutes until browned and fragrant. Set aside.

3. Boil and flake fish

In a pot of boiling water, boil kuning fish for 5 minutes. Remove fish from pot and keep the pot of water boiling.
On a clean surface, use 2 forks to gently pull apart fish flesh from the bones. Set aside.
Substitute flaked fish for fried chicken wings.

4. Boil salted egg and deep-fry shrimp crackers

In the same pot of boiling water, boil salted egg for 12 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside.
In a separate pot, heat up enough vegetable oil for deep-frying. When oil is hot, deep-fry shrimp crackers for 10 to 15 seconds until it floats and expands.
Remove from pan and drain on paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.

5. Dry fry and pound dried shrimps and desiccated coconut

In a separate pan on medium heat, dry fry dried shrimps for 2 to 4 minutes until lightly browned.In a separate pan on medium heat, dry fry desiccated coconut for 2 to 4 minutes until lightly browned.
With a mortar and pestle, pound toasted shrimps and toasted desiccated coconut until flaky. Set aside.

6. Mix rice with blue pea water

Fluff up rice and mix in blue pea flower water

Plate and Serve!

Ladle curry sauce onto your serving dish and gently place the fish on the top of the curry sauce. Pack the blue rice into a rice bowl and flip it over into your serving plate to create a nice round shape. Place flaked fish, shrimp crackers, blanched bean sprouts, halved salted egg and torch gingersalad around the rice. Top off the rice with 1 tbsp spice paste. Serve hot.