What Is It?
Nasi kerabu literally translated from Malay language means rice salad. Nasi is rice. Kerabu is salad. Nasi kerabu is a very famous dish in Kelantan and Terengganu, the east coast states in Malaysia. It's also known as khao yam in southern Thailand.
This delicious dish consists of several wonderful components to it. Blue rice, grilled spiced chicken with coconut milk, fried fish, herbs salad, sweet and spicy coconut sauce, stuffed peppers, boiled salted egg and coconut tuna floss.
The blue color of the rice is from bunga telang (butterfly pea flower). This quite elaborated dish is rich with wonderful coconut flavour and fresh herbs.
And how to eat this meal with all the 1 million components? Well the way I eat Nasi kerabu is I mix everything with the rice, except the grilled chicken, fried fish and stuffed pepper.
Then with every bite that I take, I will have some of those 3 components. It's fun and definitely delicious!
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I'm Not In Malaysia, How Do I Make It?
First is if you're living in Malaysia, you are in luck as you will have access to all the ingredients to make this delicious meal.
But if you're living abroad like me or you're just interested in this dish, and are with difficulties in finding some ingredients, that doesn't mean you can't recreate this meal with an amazing result. I will share how.
There are going to be some substitution in this meal, of course. That's not going to jeopardise its taste, I promise you. Cooking is about adapting to your surrounding, that's the beauty of it. Let's begin shall we?
Blue Rice
As I mentioned earlier, the blue color comes from a flower. You can easily substitute it by using a few drops of blue food colouring. The flower doesn't have a distinct taste so using food colouring is extremely fine.
Salted Egg
Since this meal is about fresh taste so the salted egg is used as a salt component to it. It's a wonderful experience to be biting into bits of salted egg now and then when eating this meal.
I make my own salted egg since I have yet seen any place selling salted eggs in my city. It's extremely easy.
Fresh Grated Coconut
In Malaysia freshly grated coconut is so easy to find but nope, it's not that easy if you're not living in Malaysia or its neighbouring countries. I use coconut flakes to replace it.
The unsweetened ones that I always use in my bakings. Yes. that one. It's just as delicious with the exact same taste and smell when cooked.
Budu
Budu is used in the sweet and spicy coconut sauce for Nasi Kerabu. It's a fermented fish sauce made with anchovies. I substitute it with anchovy fillets. There you go. The use of budu is to give the coconut sauce that touch of creamy salty wonderful fish (yet not fishy) taste.
The same concept and taste that you would use anchovies in homemade pesto. Don't let not having budu sauce deprive you from having Nasi kerabu. Life is more than just budu sauce.
Keropok Ikan
It's simply fish crackers. This component is to give that crunchy texture to the meal, while still preserving that fish theme. Buy yourself a pack of any fish or shrimp crackers and you're good to go. The point is, don't use cheddar cheese crackers.. if you get what I mean.
Stuffed Peppers or Solok Lada
I don't know what type of peppers are originally used for this but basically it's stuffed green peppers. The green peppers should be medium to small sized ones, not big ones like Italian green peppers.
It should also not be spicy like green chili or jalapeño. In this recipe I'm using Spanish padron peppers. They're just perfect in size and taste.
Bunga Kantan
It's ginger torch flower and is used in the herbs salad for Nasi kerabu. I can't find it in my city. I tried planting it last year but with no luck. Poor care from my side, I have to admit.
Ginger torch has this somewhat minty flavour that I find is perfect to substitute with a combination of mint and cilantro leaves. It works amazing!
So there you have it. The tricks and tips to make your own Nasi Kerabu when you're not living in Malaysia. Trust me, the meal will come out as amazing. If other people bring you down for not using the authentic ingredients and ways, well sad for them. Life is about adapting, opening your mind and being resourceful. Right?
Do share your struggles in cooking Malaysian meals, living outside Malaysia. We might have something in common and can laugh about it. Also leave me a comment below if you have any doubts or questions. I will try to answer them in any way I can.
If you have made any of my recipes, please share them me! I would of course love to see them. I'm in Instagram at elmundoeats or simply use #elmundoeats.
More Malaysian Recipes
- Coconut milk rice (nasi lemak)
- Chicken rendang
- Red curry laksa noodle soup
- Chicken satay with peanut sauce
- Quick Penang noodle soup (asam laksa)
Recipe Video
📖 Recipe
Blue Rice Salad (Nasi Kerabu)
Video
Ingredients
Fried Fish
- 1 lb fish (450 gr)
- 1 cup rice flour (130 gr)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon fennel powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
- 1 egg
- ½ cup water (125 ml)
- oil for deep frying
Fish Coconut Floss
- ½ red onion
- 2 lemongrass
- 2 can tuna in water (2x2.8 oz or2x80 gr), lightly drain the water
- 1 ½ cup coconut flakes (110 gr)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- few grinds of black pepper
Sambal
- 15 bird eye chillies
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- Pinch of salt
- lime juice to taste
Sweet And Spicy Coconut Sauce
- 2 shallots
- ½ thumb sized ginger
- 15 dried chillies , soaked until soft & drained beforehand
- 1 oz anchovy fillets (30 gr)
- 1 lemongrass
- 1 cup coconut milk (250 ml)
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar , or brown/granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- salt to taste
Stuffed Pepers (Solok Lada)
- 10 Spanish padron peppers
- ½ red onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ thumb sized ginger
- ¼ cup coconut flakes (20 gr)
- ¼ cup coconut milk (60 ml)
- 2 can tuna in water ,(2x2.8 oz or2x80 gr), lightly drain the water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- few grinds of black pepper
Blue Rice
- 1 ½ cup basmati rice (280 gr), soak for 20 minutes and drain
- 2 ½ cup boiling water (625 ml)
- 4 kefir lime leaves
- 1 lemongrass
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- few drops of blue food colouring
Herbs Salad
- 2 cup thinly sliced cabbage (90 gr)
- 2 cup bean sprouts (100 gr)
- 1 cucumber , cut into matchsticks
- 10 green beans , thinly sliced
- 1 cup mint leaves (10 gr), chopped
- 1 cup coriander leaves (10 gr), chopped
Others
- some shrimp crackers
- spiced chicken with coconut milk , please see my recipe in the link above
- boiled salted eggs , please see my recipe in the link above
Instructions
Fried Fish
- Prep the fish and cut into halves if they're too big. Pat dry with kitchen paper and set aside.
- In a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients except the oil. Mix everything together into a thick batter. Set aside.
- Heat a pot with abundance of oil on medium heat. Dip the fish in the batter and let the excess batter drip before putting the fish in the oil. Fry until golden brown and fully cook. Set aside on kitchen paper to absorb the oil
- Repeat with the rest of the fish. Do in batches and don't over crown the pot. Set aside.
Coconut Tuna Floss
- Blend red onion and lemongrass into a fine paste.
- Transfer into a pan together with the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes or until the mixture is slightly dry. You can cook it longer if you like the mixture drier. Set aside.
Sambal
- Blend the chillies together with salt and sugar. Transfer into a bowl. Squeeze in some lime juice to taste. Set aside.
Sweet And Spicy Coconut Sauce
- Blend shallots, ginger, chillies, anchovies and lemongrass into a fine paste. Saute the paste with some oil in a pan on medium heat for 5 minutes or until the paste is shiny and drier.
- Then add in coconut milk and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until the sauce slightly thickens. Turn the heat off. Adjust salt if need then add in lime juice and mix well. Set aside.
Stuffed Peppers (Solok Lada)
- Slit the peppers and discard the seeds. Set aside. Meanwhile heat your steamer.
- Blend red onion, garlic and ginger into a fine paste. Transfer to a bowl together with the rest of the ingredients and mix everything well.
- Stuff the peppers, making the filling a bit visible. Place the stuffed peppers in the hot steamer and steam for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Blue Rice
- Transfer the drained rice into a casserole pan. The wide surface of the pan helps in cooking the rice faster and more evenly.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients and bring it to a simmer. Cover the pan with a lid, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes or until fully cooked.
- Fluff the rice with a fork. Set aside.
Herbs Salad
- Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
Assembling Nasi Kerabu
- Scoop some rice into a plate. Place some of each components all around the rice. Serve.
- To eat, mix everything together except for grilled chicken, fried fish and stuffed peppers. Crush the crackers and mix together also. Grab a bite of those 3 components while eating. Enjoy!
Lilliana sanetra says
This recipe is amazing sounds good and taste amazing. Making a cookbook and it's about Malaysian food. 🙂
Bea says
That's great! I'm working on mine also. And yes, this is delicious and refreshing. Thank you so much!
ching ney says
I am glad that I found your website and youtube channel. you are right it's not easy to cook asian if you are living abroad. this recipe is a keeper.
thank you for your hard work and god bless.
Bea says
Yes, it's not easy at all if you're living abroad, right? I'm glad to know that you find this recipe useful. Thank you so much Ching!