Just One Food - Nasi Kerabu

One of the more unique local dishes is Nasi Kerabu which is essentially a Malay rice dish that's very popular in the east coast states of Malaysia such as Kelantan and Terengganu.  Although its origin is from Kelantan, it can now be found all over Malaysia.  It's a dish with different flavours and textures all in one bite...so good!

 

It is instantly recognisable from its blue-tinged rice using the extract from the "bunga telang" (butterfly pea flower).  The key components of any nasi kerabu have some (if not all) of the following ingredients:

It starts with a mix of various herbs and vegetables which may include thinly sliced long beans, cabbage, cucumber, "bunga kantan" (torch ginger bud), bean sprouts, four angle beans and "daun kesum" (laksa leaves or Vietnamese coriander).  [#Tip: Be careful though as some may not like the taste of bunga kantan (a strong herb very much like lemongrass, mint, kaffir lime leaves, Vietnamese mint, Chinese coriander, daun kesum, daun sup, etc.)...you either like it or you don't.]

+ "kerisik" which is grated coconut dry roasted in a pan over low heat until browned and then pounded (on the right)
+ "serunding ikan" or sambal kerisik ikan made with deboned "ikan kembong" (Indian mackerel), also dry roasted and pounded, and tossed with (sometimes without) grated coconut (on the left)

 

+ of course, there must be "telur masin" or salted eggs

 

+ "keropok ikan" or fish crackers

...and finished with a drizzle of "budu" (a kind of fermented fish sauce made with anchovies and salt) and a dollop of spicy fresh sambal
(some say nasi kerabu without budu is like nasi lemak without sambal)

Your nasi kerabu can be accompanied by anything you want...but it's usually eaten with a choice of "ikan goreng tepung" (fish fried with a coating of turmeric tinged flour), "daging bakar" (grilled beef) or "ayam goreng" (fried chicken) or "ayam percik" (spicy grilled chicken).  [#Tip: I had it with daging bakar before but found the meat too dry and chewy, so I prefer mine with fish or ayam percik.]

They say nasi kerabu is not complete without solok lada as an accompaniment.  Solok lada is essentially green chillies stuffed with a mixture of grilled/boiled ikan kembong and grated coconut.

This is one with ikan goreng tepung and solok lada @ RM8 and the works.

I think solok lada is an acquired taste as it proved a tad too sweet for me since there was already kerisik in the mix.  As for the ikan goreng tepung, it's just plain fried fish coated in turmeric and flour...nothing special.

And this one is with sambal "ikan tenggiri" (Spanish mackerel) @ RM7.50 and the works...definitely preferred this one to the ikan goreng tepung.

 

The best way to eat this is to mix everything up together (with your hands if you like)....with every bite giving you a mix of tastes and textures......yum is the word! ;D

You get the crunch from the raw vegetables and keropok ikan, the fragrant and lemony taste of the bunga kantan with a hint of ginger, the freshness of the herbs, the savouriness from the fish floss and salted egg, the sweetness from the kerisik and the spicy kick from the fresh sambal....all the flavours worked together harmoniously for a mouth watering spoonful of food.  [#Tip: However, those of you who like your rice doused with lots of curry/gravy, this one may be too dry for your taste buds (but that's how this is eaten in order for the flavours of the fresh herbs and raw vegetables to come through.  And if you dislike the taste of fresh herbs (especially bunga kantan) or can't 'stomach' raw vegetables, this is definitely not the dish for you.]

With so many ingredients and components, this dish obviously takes a considerable amount of work to prepare, so it'd be to your best interest to eat bought ones...and this I got from my neighbourhood Ramadhan bazaar.....yum yum!