Nasi kerabu
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Nasi kerabu is a
Malaysian cuisine Malaysian cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices found in Malaysia, and reflects the multi-ethnic makeup of its population. The vast majority of Malaysia's population can roughly be divided among three major ethnic groups: Mala ...
rice dish This is a list of rice dishes from all over the world, arranged alphabetically. Rice is the seed of the monocot plants ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple fo ...
, a type of ''
nasi ulam ''Nasi ulam'' is a traditional Indonesian cuisine, Indonesian dish of steamed rice (''nasi'') served with various herbs and vegetables (''ulam'') The herbs being used especially the leaves of ''pegagan'' (''Centella asiatica'') or often replaced ...
'', in which blue-colored rice is eaten with dried fish or fried chicken, crackers, pickles and other salads. The blue color of the rice comes from the petals of ''
Clitoria ternatea ''Clitoria ternatea'', commonly known as Asian pigeonwings, bluebellvine, blue pea, butterfly pea, cordofan pea or Darwin pea is a plant species belonging to the family Fabaceae, endemic and native to the Indonesian island of Ternate. In India, ...
'' (butterfly-pea) flowers ''(bunga telang)'', which are used as a natural food coloring in cooking it. The rice can also be cooked with plain white rice or rice cooked using
turmeric Turmeric () is a flowering plant, ''Curcuma longa'' (), of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the rhizomes of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asi ...
. It is often eaten with ''solok lada'' (stuffed
peppers Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...
) and is also eaten with fried ''
keropok ''Krupuk'' ( Javanese), ''kerupuk'' ( Indonesian), ''keropok'' ( Malay), ''kroepoek'' (Dutch) or ''kropek'' ( Tagalog) is a cracker made from starch or animal skin and other ingredients that serve as flavouring. Most krupuk are deep fried, ...
''. ''Nasi kerabu'' is very popular in the east coast states of
Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...
such as
Kelantan Kelantan (; Jawi: ; Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate'') is a state in Malaysia. The capital is Kota Bharu and royal seat is Kubang Kerian. The honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' (Jawi: ; "The Blissful Abode"). Kelantan is located in the ...
and
Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', Jawi: ), formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu, is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l- Īmān'' ("Abode of Faith"). ...
, and now can be found throughout Malaysia as well as in southern Thailand, where it is known as ''khao yam'' ( th, ข้าวยำ, ).


Origin and distribution

Boiled rice has been a key source of carbohydrates in the diet of the people of
Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...
and
Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago (Indonesian/Malay: , tgl, Kapuluang Malay) is the archipelago between mainland Indochina and Australia. It has also been called the " Malay world," "Nusantara", "East Indies", Indo-Australian Archipelago, Spices Archipe ...
since ancient times, and is an essential component of many local dishes. Most often, a portion of rice boiled in water,
coconut milk Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food i ...
or a mixture of both, is served with some kind of garnish. In Malaysia, as in many other East Asian kitchens, rice is usually not a
side dish A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order, side item, or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.salads A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...
made from
vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...
and
herbs In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
in Malaysian cuisine under the name "kerabu". In terms of its composition, nasi kerabu is similar to a number of other Malaysian national dish, in particular,
nasi ulam ''Nasi ulam'' is a traditional Indonesian cuisine, Indonesian dish of steamed rice (''nasi'') served with various herbs and vegetables (''ulam'') The herbs being used especially the leaves of ''pegagan'' (''Centella asiatica'') or often replaced ...
, in which a portion of rice is also supplemented with vegetable salad and some other side dishes, and even considered as a kind of the latter. However, the fundamental value of nasi kerabu is the bright color of rice is achieved through the use of natural
food coloring Food coloring, or color additive, is any dye, pigment, or substance that imparts color when it is added to food or drink. They come in many forms consisting of liquids, powders, gels, and pastes. Food coloring is used in both commercial food ...
- flowers of the trifoliate clitoria (''
Clitoria ternatea ''Clitoria ternatea'', commonly known as Asian pigeonwings, bluebellvine, blue pea, butterfly pea, cordofan pea or Darwin pea is a plant species belonging to the family Fabaceae, endemic and native to the Indonesian island of Ternate. In India, ...
''), which is native to
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
. Nasi kerabu is a traditional dish of the northeastern coast of
West Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...
, primarily in the states of
Kelantan Kelantan (; Jawi: ; Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate'') is a state in Malaysia. The capital is Kota Bharu and royal seat is Kubang Kerian. The honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' (Jawi: ; "The Blissful Abode"). Kelantan is located in the ...
and
Terrenganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', Jawi: ), formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu, is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l- Īmān'' ("Abode of Faith"). ...
, from where it spreads to the other regions of the country by the beginning of the 21st century, as well as to neighbouring
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
. This dish is also very popular in the adjacent regions of
southern Thailand Southern Thailand, Southern Siam or Tambralinga is a southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand region by the Kra Isthmus. Geography Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bounded ...
, populated mainly by Malays, among whom there are separatist sentiments. Due to the latter circumstance, nasi kerabu is often perceived in this area not only as the most important culinary speciality, but also as one of the informal symbols of ethnic identity and connection with Malaysia. This point is reflected, in particular, in the book of Malaysian journalist, publicist and documentary filmmaker , ''Operation Nasi Kerabu: Finding Patani in an Islamic Insurgency''. Among the Thai-speaking population of Southern Thailand, nasi kerabu is known by the name ''khao-yam'' ( th, ข้าวยำ).


Preparation and varieties

Nasi kerabu consists of several components: boiled rice, vegetable salad and at least one more, and more often several additions. And if dyed rice is an essential part of this dish, then the salad and to an even greater extent, additional ingredients can vary quite widely, which ultimately creates a huge variety of varieties of nasi kerabu. In water intended for boiling rice, several flowers of Clitoris trifoliate, fresh or dried, are soaked for several minutes, as a result of which it acquires a very intense blue color with a hint of
indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...
. In addition, a certain set of
Spices A spice is a seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garni ...
is added to the water, which usually consists of finely chopped stems of
lemon grass ''Cymbopogon'', also known as lemongrass, barbed wire grass, silky heads, Cochin grass, Malabar grass, oily heads, citronella grass or fever grass, is a genus of Asian, African, Australian, and tropical island plants in the grass family. Some s ...
, leaves of
Kaffir lime ''Citrus hystrix'', called the kaffir lime or makrut lime, (, ) is a citrus fruit native to tropical Southeast Asia. Its fruit and leaves are used in Southeast Asian cuisine, and its essential oil is used in perfumery. Its rind and crushed leave ...
and a pandan plant, often - syzygium multiflora,
ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...
, and also
palm sugar Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar is sometimes qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed s ...
. Sometimes
coconut milk Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food i ...
is added to the water. Kerabu is a vegetable salad that is part of the dish, usually a mixture of no more than three or four ingredients: raw, soaked and, less often boiled. Most often,
cucumbers Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...
,
cowpea The cowpea (''Vigna unguiculata'') is an annual herbaceous legume from the genus ''Vigna''. Its tolerance for sandy soil and low rainfall have made it an important crop in the semiarid regions across Africa and Asia. It requires very few input ...
,
green beans Green beans are young, unripe fruits of various cultivars of the common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris''), although immature or young pods of the runner bean (''Phaseolus coccineus''), yardlong bean ( ''Vigna unguiculata'' subsp. ''sesquipedalis' ...
,
water spinach ''Ipomoea aquatica'', widely known as water spinach, is a semi- aquatic, tropical plant grown as a vegetable for its tender shoots. ''I. aquatica'' is generally believed to have been first domesticated in Southeast Asia. It is widely cultivate ...
,
bok choy Bok choy (American English, Canadian English, and Australian English), pak choi (British English) or pok choi (''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''chinensis'') is a type of Chinese cabbage, used as food. ''Chinensis'' varieties do not form heads and have g ...
,
onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...
or
green onions "Green Onions" is an instrumental composition recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Described as "one of the most popular instrumental rock and soul songs ever" and as one of "the most popular R&B instrumentals of its era", the tune is a ...
,
cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...
,
paprika Paprika ( US , ; UK , ) is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from ''Capsicum annuum'' varietals in the Longum group, which also includes chili peppers, but the peppers used for paprika tend to be milder an ...
,
chili peppers Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...
,
knotweed Knotweed is a common name for plants in several genera in the family Polygonaceae. Knotweed may refer to: * ''Fallopia'' * ''Persicaria'' * ''Polygonum'' * ''Reynoutria japonica ''Reynoutria japonica'', synonyms ''Fallopia japonica'' and ''Poly ...
,
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
sprouts or sprouted mungs are used for its preparation. The portion of the vegetable mixture added to the dish is usually no more than half the volume of a serving rice. In addition to the vegetable mixture, some animal product is almost always added to Nasi kerabu:
chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
,
fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
,
seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...
or
meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
. This part of the dish can be prepared in various ways: most often it is fried or
stewed A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. A stew needs to have raw ingredients added to the gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables and m ...
using some kind of
sauces In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French word t ...
. Along with these products, or instead of rice, this dish often uses such Malaysian cuisine specialties such as ''solok lada'' - fried capsicum stuffed with grated
flesh Flesh is any aggregation of soft tissues of an organism. Various multicellular organisms have soft tissues that may be called "flesh". In mammals, including humans, ''flesh'' encompasses muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as mu ...
of a young
coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...
- and ''telur masin'' - duck or much more rarely, a chicken
egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
, aged in a special
brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...
with spices. Usually, one or two stuffed peppers and half salted egg are served per serving Nasi kerabu: the latter, which has a slightly gelatinous consistency, is often placed on a plate right in the shell. In addition, rice and other components of the dish are often sprinkled with
keropok ''Krupuk'' ( Javanese), ''kerupuk'' ( Indonesian), ''keropok'' ( Malay), ''kroepoek'' (Dutch) or ''kropek'' ( Tagalog) is a cracker made from starch or animal skin and other ingredients that serve as flavouring. Most krupuk are deep fried, ...
.


Serving and drinking

All components of Nasi kerabu are laid out on one flat
plate Plate may refer to: Cooking * Plate (dishware), a broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food * Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining * Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...
. A pile of rice is usually the central part of the "composition", but may also be located on the edge of the plate. Lettuce and other additives are laid out to the next rice, or in whole or in part - on top of it. This dish, like many other traditional Malaysian dishes, is often served with
sambal Sambal is an Indonesian chilli sauce or paste, typically made from a mixture of a variety of chilli peppers with secondary ingredients, such as shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, and lime juice. ''Sambal'' is an Indo ...
. Sometimes - in particular, at a festive or restaurant serving - a nasi kerabu dish is decorated with fresh flowers of the trifoliate clitoris. Nasi kerabu is main dish usually served hot or, more rarely, at room temperature. In West Malaysia, this dish is very popular in both home and street cuisine: it is prepared both in modern style restaurants and in many traditional taverns. A
fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...
, "portable" version of this dish can be purchased at markets or street vendors, which can be eaten on the go or taken as a food supply: a small portion of blue rice with a usually rather modest side dish is wrapped in paper or newspaper.


See also

*
List of Malay dishes Malay cuisine is the traditional food of the ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia, residing in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia (parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan), Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the Philippines (mostly southern) as well as ...
*''
Nasi ulam ''Nasi ulam'' is a traditional Indonesian cuisine, Indonesian dish of steamed rice (''nasi'') served with various herbs and vegetables (''ulam'') The herbs being used especially the leaves of ''pegagan'' (''Centella asiatica'') or often replaced ...
'' *''
Nasi dagang ''Nasi dagang'' ( Jawi: ناسي داڬڠ, lit. 'trader's rice') is a Malaysian dish consisting of rice steamed in coconut milk, fish curry and extra ingredients such as pickled cucumber and carrots. It is a well-known breakfast food in the st ...
'' *''
Nasi lemak ''Nasi lemak'' is a dish originating in Malay cuisine that consists of fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf. It is commonly found in Malaysia, where it is considered the national dish. It is also the native dish in neighbouri ...
''


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *


External links


''Nasi kerabu'' recipe''Nasi kerabu'' recipe
{{Rice dishes Malay cuisine Malaysian rice dishes Thai cuisine