TRADITIONAL DISH FROM KELANTAN: NASI KERABU

                                                                                              INTRODUCTION

Picture from happyfresh.my

What is nasi kerabu? Why is it named nasi kerabu? What is the specialty of nasi kerabu? nasi kerabu is a traditional food in Kelantan and Terengganu also we called nasi ulam and it has grown throughout Malaysia as a factor of its attractiveness. Its rice has an unique blue colour, and a pleasant aroma, and it is served with a variety of fresh vegetables, crackers, any kind of main dish such as fried chicken, grilled meat or tempura fried fish, salted egg and this depends on who wants to eat the nasi kerabu with what kind of the main dish. These rice dishes include solok lada as a side dish, solok lada is green chilli stuffed with grated coconut and flaked fish. The rice's blue colour is from bunga telang petals, that are used as a natural ingredients colouring in the preparation of food. nasi kerabu is a Malay term in which Nasi refers to rice and kerabu refers to a Thai-style salad that is normally eaten fresh. Since nasi kerabu is now available throughout Malaysia, we can get nasi kerabu at Night Markets, Bazaar Ramadhan during the fasting month and any other stalls that sell nasi kerabu. I want to share my story about how I know nasi kerabu, since I don't eat vegetables, so I really wouldn't buy any food that has vegetables but one day when I went to the night market with my mother, she bought nasi kerabu and when I saw the lady is wrapping the nasi kerabu, I wondered what is the taste of nasi kerabu is because the rice is blue and mixed with various vegetables. During dinner, I saw my mother eating the nasi kerabu and I asked if the nasi kerabu was tasty or not because there were so many vegetables in the nasi kerabu. My mother said "You have to try, maybe you will like it." and I said "Okay! Next week we go and buy the nasi kerabu!". I ordered nasi kerabu but I said I don't want vegetables and the lady just smiled at me. During dinner I ate the nasi kerabu and it tasted very good, I do not regret buying the nasi kerabu. Anyway, who would ever have imagined this would become one of my favourite food now? Just thinking about nasi kerabu is enough already to make me salivated. It's a food that is really good for everyone, looks really good, and tastes amazing.

                                                                                 HISTORY OF NASI KERABU

 Nasi kerabu is a local delicacy in a hometown of Che Siti Wan Kembang, known as Serambi Mekah and it has dispersed across the whole of Malaysia as a matter of fact of its notoriety. The rice has a distinctive blue colour and a faint scent, and it is garnished with a range of fresh greens. In the 15th century, nasi kerabu is thought to have originated in Kelantan. Also, due to the influx of Chinese merchants, it is one of the traditional meals of Kelantanese Peranakans, a fusion of Chinese and Malay heritage. Nasi kerabu is not only famous among the Malaysian community, but it is also famous among the Siamese community. Aside from that, owing to marriages between Hokkien men and Thai women who were residing in Kelantan at the time, the Kelantanese Peranakans cuisine features some Thai influences. As a corollary, it is not strange that a similar rice meal known as Khao Jam or Khao Yum thrives in Southern Thailand. It differs from nasi kerabu in terms of seasonings, flavour, and rice colour. The state of Kelantan is located in northern Malaysia, directly over the Thai border. Although it may appear that these two places would cook using comparable ingredients and taste characteristics, each of these areas has its own distinct cuisine.

Additionally, the blue color of rice comes from the origin of Pekan Parit Jawa. The usual is nasi kerabu putih eaten complete with kuah tumis. The rice is first soaked and boiled in an exract purplish-blue bunga telang (butterfly pea flower), which gives the rice appealing blue colour and distinct scent. These plants are mostly organic as they are rarely sprayed with chemical pesticides and are indeed less attacked by pests. Nonetheless, other locations find it easier to simply add a few drops of artificial colouring. Nasi kerabu is available in a variety of colour combinations. Nasi kerabu kuning, nasi kerabu putih, nasi kerabu hitam and nasi kerabu biru are the four varieties. The colour variation is caused by the usage of various herbal components. In Siamese cooking, the addition of leaves or herbs turns the rice black. Also, turmeric is used to colour the rice, which turns it yellow. The aesthetic value of nasi kerabu is the variety of flavors that can be felt from the dishes. In view of the fact that, nasi kerabu is mixed with various side dishes, spices, kesum leaves, sauce, cucumber, fish, crackers, and even chicken. Hence, nasi kerabu dish has proved to be very popular, even now it can be found in any state in Malaysia along with can unite culturally different communities by sharing about their respective traditional foods.

 

                                                                                               RECIPE 

     

Ingredients A: Kuah Sambal Tumis Dried chilies (as needed) Shallot (40 grams) Onion (80 grams) Garlic (15 grams) Ginger (10 grams) Coconut milk (200 grams) Lemongrass (3 sticks) Tamarind slices (2 slices) Sugar (as needed) Salt (as needed) Budu (2 tbsp) Oil (as needed) Ingredients B: Sambal Ikan Kelapa Fresh grated coconut (150 grams) Ikan kembong - boil (50 grams) Shallot (80 grams) Salt (as needed) Lemongrass (4 sticks) Black pepper (1 tsp) Gula gerek @ nise (90 grams) Ingredient C: Solok Lada Fresh grated coconut (100 grams) Ikan selayang (180 grams) Garlic (15 grams) Shallot (60 grams) Black pepper (as needed) Salt and sugar (as needed) Green chilies (as needed) Ingredients D: Ulam – ulaman (as needed) Cabbage Bean sprouts Long bean Torch ginger flower Ingredients E: Rice Rice (4 cups) Lemongrass (3 sticks) Pandan leaves (as needed) Butterfly pea flower (as needed) Water (as needed) Ingredients F: Ikan Celop Tepung Corn flour (3 tbsp) Rice flour (3 tbsp) Turmeric powder (1 tsp) Egg (1 nos) Water (as needed) Ikan kembong (as needed) Methods: Ingredients A: Kuah Sambal Tumis Blend dried chilies, shallot, garlic, onion, and ginger. Heat the oil and pour the blend items. Put the coconut milk, water, and keep stir to avoid curdle. Put the lemongrass, salt, sugar, budu and tamarind slices inside the pot. Cook it until thick and can served it. Ingredients B: Sambal Ikan Kelapa Punch all the ingredients and mix them well. Cook the ingredients to make sure it has long shelf life and served it. Ingredients C: Solok Lada Blend the shallot, garlic, and black pepper. Mix it with the fish fillet and stuffed it inside the green chilies. Put the green chilies in pan and pour the coconut milk. Put the sugar and salt as needed. Cook until the coconut milk almost dry and served it. Ingredients D: Ulam – ulaman Slice finely all the ingredients and served it. Ingredients E: Rice Soak the butterfly pea flower to produce blue colour. Wash the rice and put the lemongrass and pandan leaves into pot. Pour the butterfly pea flower and add some water as needed. Wait until the rice is cooking and served it. Ingredients F: Ikan Celop Tepung Put the corn flour, rice flour, turmeric powder, egg and water into the bowl. Mix well. Dipping the fish in the batter and cook it.

  

TRENDS

As the year goes by, we can see how there are many new trends for every Malay foods and this include in the transformation of nasi kerabu too. These new trends not only for the new way of cooking but it also includes the changes in cooking technology and way of selling. For example, people from previous years often used lesung batu when they want to make sambal. But nowadays, blender is like every woman’s best friend in kitchen. This goes the same to nasi kerabu. The original nasi kerabu, people used lesung batu to make their sambal and it tastes greater as it gives a strong chili texture compared to using blender which will make the chili become smoother.

 Picture from jiwasihat.com

Other than that, the other trend that we can see in nasi kerabu is the recipe used during the making of the dish. For example, older people used the extract from the flowers called bunga telang to make the rice turned into blue color. Due to the modernness in our country, some people used colouring to make the rice turns blue. As we all know, bunga telang not only change the color but it also gives many health benefits such as reduce the risk of heart disease, reduce stress in oneself, help in lowering human’s body temperature especially during fever and many more. In addition, food colouring is not as healthy as bunga telang as it may contains chemical that may be harmful to a human’s body. Lastly, some people start selling nasi kerabu in their own style which is on online business. For many years, we often see people sell nasi kerabu by the roadside or in a small stall. However, we can see people start selling package or paste of nasi kerabu on online platforms such as Shopee, Instagram and Facebook. The package that peoples are selling will include every ingredient such as fried coconut paste, serunding, anchovies sauce called budu and even a food colouring is included too in the package. This new way of selling has given the benefits to some people who enjoyed eating nasi kerabu but is lacking in preparing it. It also helped workaholic mothers to prepare it in a short time as they only need to mix everything that has included in the package.