Nasi kerabu
Kelantan's blue rice, coloured with butterfly pea flower, served with hair-thin raw herbs, toasted coconut kerisik, fried mackerel and a sharp fish sauce sambal.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen.
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Rest
- None
- Total
- 1 hr 25 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- Medium heat
- Cost
- A bit special$16–28 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Nasi kerabu is Kelantan's blue rice salad. The rice is cooked in water steeped with dried butterfly pea flowers, which turn it a soft sky blue, and it comes with a heap of finely shredded raw herbs, sliced long beans, bean sprouts and cucumber, a spoon of kerisik, toasted coconut pounded to an oily paste, and fried fish. A sauce of budu, Kelantan's fermented anchovy sauce, with lime and chilli goes over the top, and you toss everything together before eating. The colour is the first thing anyone notices; the herbs are what you taste. Cut them hair-thin.
What you'll need
25 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
- Blue rice
- Kerisik
- Fish
- Herbs and vegetables
- Sambal budu
Ingredients
Blue rice
- Rice, jasmine or long-grain400 g
- Butterfly pea flower, dried flowers30
- Water, just boiled650 ml
- Lemongrass, bruised and knotted1
- Pandan leaves, knotted1
- Salt4.9 ml
Kerisik
- Grated coconut, fresh or frozen; desiccated works100 g
Fish
- Mackerel, small whole mackerel, cleaned, or 4 fillets4
- Turmeric, ground4.9 ml
- Salt4.9 ml
- Neutral oil, for frying100 ml
Herbs and vegetables
- Laksa leaf1 handful
- Mint1 handful
- Lemongrass, tender inner core only2
- Bean sprouts, mung bean sprouts100 g
Sambal budu
- Fish sauce, or budu if you can find it44 ml
- Lime juice30 ml
- Palm sugar15 ml
- Fresh chilli, bird's eye, sliced2
- Shallot, thinly sliced2
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Steep the dried flowers in the just-boiled water for 10 minutes, until it is a deep blue, then strain them out.
10 min
Step 2
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Cook it in the blue water with the knotted lemongrass, pandan and salt, in a rice cooker or in a covered saucepan: bring to the boil, then 15 minutes on low heat and 10 minutes off it with the lid on. Fluff with a fork.
25 min
Tip: Keep lime juice away from the rice until you eat. Acid turns the blue to purple.
Step 3
Toast the grated coconut in a dry frying pan over medium-low heat, stirring all the time, until deep golden brown: 20 to 25 minutes for fresh or frozen, about 10 for desiccated. Pound it in a mortar while still warm until it turns into a dark, oily paste. That is kerisik.
30 min
Step 4
Rub the mackerel with the turmeric and salt and leave 10 minutes. Fry in the hot oil for 4 to 5 minutes a side until crisp, and drain.
20 min
Step 5
Cut the laksa leaf, mint, torch ginger, lemongrass core and lime leaves as finely as you can, into hair-thin shreds. Slice the long beans into thin rounds, cut the cucumber into matchsticks and slice the shallots. Blanch the bean sprouts for 30 seconds and drain. Keep everything in separate piles.
20 min
Tip: Roll the lime leaves into a tight cigar and slice across with your sharpest knife.
Watch: Raw bean sprouts can carry salmonella and E. coli. Eat them raw only if the pack says ready to eat, and never raw for pregnant women, small children, older people or anyone with a weak immune system.
Step 6
Mix the fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, chilli and shallot for the sambal. It should be salty, sour and hot together.
3 min
Step 7
Mound the blue rice on each plate, with small piles of each herb and vegetable around it, a spoonful of kerisik and a fried fish. Serve the sambal on the side; each person spoons it over and mixes everything together before eating.
5 min
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 653 kcal
- Protein
- 13.3 g
- Carbs
- 69.5 g
- Fat
- 36.8 g
- Saturated fat
- 11.2 g
- Fibre
- 8.8 g
- Sugar
- 13.4 g
- Sodium
- 2424 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- Fish
- Soy
- Pescatarian
- Dairy-free
- Gluten-free
- Nut-free
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 13 November.
Substitutions
Butterfly pea flower → Plain rice
There is no other natural blue. The dish tastes the same white; it is just not nasi kerabu to look at.
Fried mackerel → Grilled chicken or fish floss
Ayam bakar, grilled chicken, is a common partner in Kelantan too.
Tips
- Make the kerisik a day ahead. It keeps a week in a jar in the fridge and is the base of a good rendang too.
- A squeeze of lime over one corner of your plate turns the rice purple. It is a good trick for children.
History & culture
Nasi kerabu is breakfast and lunch in Kota Bharu, sold wrapped in banana leaf from morning markets and roadside stalls, and it travels with Kelantanese wherever they settle. During Ramadan it is a favourite at the bazaar stalls before the fast is broken. Terengganu has its own versions, with black or white rice.
Kerabu means a raw salad of mixed herbs, a Malay way of eating ulam, wild and garden greens, that is far older than the dish. The blue comes from butterfly pea flowers, grown along fences in the northeast. How long nasi kerabu has been blue is not recorded, though Kelantanese speak of it as an old custom.
Traditional — Budu is the proper base for the sauce; fish sauce with lime is the stand-in written here, and you should use budu if you can find it. Kelantan cooks use ten or more ulam herbs depending on the season; this selection is what a Southeast Asian grocer usually has. Serunding, spiced fish floss, salted egg and keropok crackers are common extras.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Nasi kerabu take?
1 hr 25 min all in — 45 min prep, 40 min cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 4 plates. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Medium.
How spicy is it?
Medium heat.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Fish, Soy. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Pescatarian, Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Nut-free.
9 more questionsFewer questions
What does it cost to cook?
A bit special — about $16–28 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Rice cooker, Saucepan, Frying pan, Mortar and pestle, Chef's knife, Cutting board.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at 1 tsp.
How much fish sauce?
3 tbsp (or budu if you can find it) of Fish sauce.
What can I use instead?
Butterfly pea flower → Plain rice. There is no other natural blue. The dish tastes the same white; it is just not nasi kerabu to look at. Fried mackerel → Grilled chicken or fish floss. Ayam bakar, grilled chicken, is a common partner in Kelantan too.
What should I watch for?
Raw bean sprouts can carry salmonella and E. coli. Eat them raw only if the pack says ready to eat, and never raw for pregnant women, small children, older people or anyone with a weak immune system.
Any tips from this recipe?
Make the kerisik a day ahead. It keeps a week in a jar in the fridge and is the base of a good rendang too. A squeeze of lime over one corner of your plate turns the rice purple. It is a good trick for children.
Can I prepare this ahead?
Make the kerisik a day ahead. It keeps a week in a jar in the fridge and is the base of a good rendang too.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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