What color is rice? Since you live in America, you'll probably say white, or maybe brown. But in Malaysia, rice—a staple food in most people's diets—can be found in many other colors.
I tried nasi kerabu (directly translated, this means rice salad, but there is no real word for it in English). It is a dish from Kelantan, a northern state on the peninsula of Malaysia. The recipe has evolved over the years so nasi kerabu comes in many varieties. The type that I tried consists of blue rice, cooked coconut flakes, iceberg lettuce and other vegetables (it depends on the cook), fried fish or chicken, sambal (a type of hot chili sauce) and a salted egg.
I felt happy when I tried it! When you eat nasi kerabu, you put all of the ingredients on your plate, and then you use your hands to mix everything together. This means that you break up the salted egg into very small pieces, crumble up the fish crackers and then stir the meal with your hands or your fork. The crunchiness of the crackers is delicious, and the sweetness of the coconut plus the salt of the egg help to flavor the dish.
