Blue rice? seriously?

Nasi kerabu, a dish of rice tinted bright blue and eaten with ulam, fried salted fish, fish crackers and other garnishings.

I was amazed at the number of colors that were on my plate!

Nasi Kerabu literally means ‘rice salad’.

The kerabu/salad could be any vegetables or edible leaves though the more or less standard version will have daun kesum, taugeh (bean sprout), long green beans, bunga kantan, cucumber and daun kadok. Apart from that it is also sometimes served with fried breaded fish, keropok keping, salted egg, and pickled garlic. There's also dry fried coconut, sambal belacan, some budu with limau kerat lintang and bird’s eye chili as an "add on". The way to eat it is to mix everything by hand and dig in! This delightful mix of raw and cooked ingredients has an interesting flavour even though some folks find the pickled leek too strong. Others have plenty of praise for the fragrant wild veggies.

IF you love rice meals but want a healthier alternative to nasi lemak, it may be worth your while to give the nasi kerabu a try.

Eating this concoction of freshly cut ulam or wild vegetables, grated coconut with tuna floss, raw beans sprouts, fish crackers, salted fish and egg, pickled leek and local rice dyed blue using botanicals is a unique experience.

This dish originated from the East Coast and can be found at roadside stalls in Terengganu. Its also very affordable, with prices starting from only RM2.50.

It used to be regarded as a poor man's meal but over time, the nasi kerabu has made its way even into the menus of some of the more expensive restaurants in the Klang Valley.

To get that wonderful blue colour, a handful of bunga telang are cooked with the rice, which is also impregnated with herbs and spices.


For that extra 'kick', the nasi kerabu can be taken with budu or fermented anchovy sauce.