Nasi Kerabu | Malaysian Blue Rice with Herb Salad

Bring 800 ml water to a boil and remove it from the heat. Add the dried butterfly pea flowers and cover the pot. Once the water is deep blue, strain out and discard the flowers. The water must be off the heat while the flowers steep, because steeping in boiling water turns the color gray.

Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then drain well. Put it in a pot with the blue infusion, the lemongrass stalk bruised to split it, and the salt. Once it boils, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, cover, and cook until all the liquid is absorbed. Do not lift the lid while it cooks; each time you do, steam escapes and the top grains stay firm.

Slice the lettuce, green beans, green onions, and the tender inner part of the lemongrass into the thinnest possible matchstick strips; the kerabu depends on this fine texture, and thickly cut herbs remain tough to chew. Tear the herb leaves by hand and thinly slice the cucumber. Put everything in a bowl and refrigerate until serving.

Toast the shredded coconut in a dry pan over low heat, stirring constantly. It changes from white to light beige, then to dark brown. Remove it as soon as it turns dark brown; every second left in the pan makes it more bitter. Coarsely crush it in a mortar.

Stem and seed the dried chilies, soften them in hot water, then blend them with the shallots and garlic. Fry the paste in oil over medium heat until clear oil separates around the edges. Add the coconut sugar and salt and cook for 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and squeeze in the lemon juice.

Put the blue rice on a plate and arrange the kerabu salad beside it in a separate mound. Sprinkle the toasted coconut over the rice and place 1 spoonful of chili sauce at the side. Do not mix the salad into the rice; let each person choose the proportions in every bite.