This week, I got a big box of spices from my friend, Karina, from Singapore.  She sent me a kilogram of dried “bunga telang” – blue pea flower, a type of tropical morning glory. It’s an edible flower and we use its brilliant indigo blue pigment as a natural food dye.  See the pictures below for a view of the brilliant blue color!   You can’t imagine how excited I was.  Even when I lived in Malaysia, bunga telang is hard to come by.  If we see it on vines by the roadside, we would stop the car to pick some.

So what do you do with these blue flowers?  Nasi Ulam or in the East Coast of Malaysia, sometimes refered to as Nasi Kerabu.  “Ulam” means a medley of herbs.  The rice salad is tossed with, yes, a medley of Asian herbs, dried coconut and dried fish flakes.  If you want to keep it vegetarian or serving the rice to less adventurous palates, just skip the dried seafood part.  It tastes just as yummy.

Chef’s tip: Toasting coconut is just as easy on the stove top as in the oven.  Coconut burns really fast, so remove it from the heat source a tinge below your desired color, and it will continue cooking on its own.

3 Tablespoons dried bunga telang, soaked in 1½ cup water
1 cup Jasmine rice
1 cup Jasmine rice + 1½ cup water

2 oz salt cod, soaked 10 minutes, drained, optional
¼ cup dried shrimp, soaked, drained, optional

1 cup shredded, unsweetened desiccated coconut

Herb mix
½ cup mint leaves, chiffonade
½ cup Thai basil leaves, chiffonade
½ cup Rau Ram leaves, chiffonade
½ cup cilantro leaves, chiffonade
¼ cup perilla/shiso leaves. chiffonade
½ cup Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
¼ cup sorrel leaves, finely chiffonade
2 tablespoon kaffir lime leaves, chiffonade
½ cup shallots from 2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 inch fresh tumeric, thin juliennes
1 inch galangal, thin juliennes
1 lemon grass, white only, finely sliced
1 ginger flower, finely sliced
Note: You can use any fragrant herb, if you cannot find all the herbs listed, or try new ones

½ cup roasted peanuts, chopped
1 Tablespoon roasted belachan, optional

Preparing the 2 types of rice:
1. Rinse 1 cup of  rice until the water runs clear.  Then soak rice in 1½ cup water with the blue flowers (in a tea ball or wrapped with cheesecloth) for at least 1 hour.  Remove flowers just before cooking.
2. In a small pot, bring the soaked rice and blue soaking liquid to boil. When it comes to a boil, cover the pot, turn to low simmer, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and let it sit, still covered for 10 minutes.
3. Rinse the other 1 cup of rice till the water runs clear.  In another small pot, bring the white rice and 1½ cups of water to boil. When it comes to a boil, cover the pot, turn to low simmer, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and let it sit, still covered for 10 minutes.
4. Fluff the rice and toss together into a large bowl to cool.
Preparing the coconut and seafood, if using:
5. Toast the coconut till golden brown. Add to the big bowl of rice.
6. Soak and drain salt cod and dried shrimp.  Place salt cod in food processor and grind coarsely.  Set aside.  Repeat with dried shrimp.
7. Heat a sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of canola oil and fry the salt cod till fragrant.  Add to the rice.
8. Toast the dried shrimp till fragrant.  Add to the rice.
Preparing the herbs
9. Finely chiffonade all herbs.
Assembly:
10. Toss all ingredients – salt cod, dried shrimp, coconut, herbs – together with the cooled rice.
11. Sprinkle with chopped roasted peanuts and roasted belachan.  Serve at room temperature.

Serves: 8

The Advieh is a Persian spice mix of cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, cloves and rose petals.

Meatballs:
½ cup long grain rice
½ cup yellow split pea, soaked 1 hour
2 cups water + ½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ lb ground lamb
½ lb ground beef
1 egg white
1 Tablespoon yogurt
1 small red onion, grated, and squeezed to remove liquid
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup parsley, chopped
1 cup dill, chopped
1 cup chives, chopped
1 cup cilantro, chopped
½ Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon Advieh (Persian spice mix: cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, rose petals)
Some oil for the baking tray
Sauce:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 cup crushed tomatoes (or 2 fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped)
1 Tablespoon sumac
½ teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup beef or chicken broth
Thickener:
1 cup parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pinch saffron threads
½ cup blanched almonds

½ cup yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced

Preparing the meatballs
1.    Bring the rice and split peas together in 2 cups of salted water to boil.  Once it has boiled, cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes.
2.    Combine the remaining meatball ingredients (lamb, beef, egg white, yogurt, red onion, garlic, chopped herbs, Advieh, salt and pepper and the cooled rice and split pea mix) together until combined.   Using your hands, form into balls about 1 ½ inch diameter.  Place on a lightly oiled baking tray, and bake in a 400°F oven until brown about 12 minutes.
Preparing the sauce
3.    In a heavy bottom, oven proof pot, heat olive oil on medium high.  Add sliced onions and cook till golden brown, about 7 minutes, then add the remaining ingredients (tomatoes, garlic, sumac, tumeric, saffron, salt and pepper).  Pour in the broth.  Bring to boil.  Taste and add salt if needed.
4.    Transfer the meatballs back into the pot, add more broth if necessary to cover the meatballs, and bake covered, in a 400 °F oven (alternatively simmer on low on stove top) for 10 minutes. stirring once or twice gently.
5.    In the meantime, put the parsley, garlic, salt, saffron, and almonds in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until well chopped. Add mixture to meatball pot after 10 minutes, stir gently, and return to the oven and bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.
6.    Mix the yogurt with the garlic, drizzle over the meatballs and serve.

Serves: 6