Blue Rice (Rice Cooker)
Blue Rice (Rice Cooker)
This is a unique dish and is Malaysian in origin. The blue is from very specific flowers, the Butterfly-pea flower. This flower grows on a vine in Thailand, and is common throughout Thailand, Asia and even in Australia, a very edible flower that is made into tea and even deep fried. The seasoning for the rice comes from lemongrass, just a subtle taste but is perfect. Normally a dish made during festive periods or celebrations. The basic Cook and Warm rice cooker is ideal for this. I made this on 13 Sep 2017 and was a hit with the Thai family, recipe adjusted to 6 flowers instead of the previously stated 3-4. for a better blue version. Outstanding.
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry Jasmine rice, rinsed
- 1½ cups water, 1 or 2 tablespoons less would be ok as well
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 Butterfly-pea flowers
- ½ stalk lemongrass, beaten, knotted, or ½ teaspoon of lemongrass powder
Instructions
- Put rinsed rice in your rice cooker along with the lemongrass and flowers.
- Add the water, press cook on the rice cooker and let it cook until it switches to Warm. For this trial I used powdered lemongrass, that was spot on.
- Once the rice cooker switches to Warm, just let it sit for about 10-20 minutes covered on the Warm setting. Mix with a spoon, you can just mix the flowers in, or you can remove them. We left the flowers in.
- Spoon some rice into a small bowl, place a plate on the top and tip the plate and bowl over, perfect serving portion. I served this with fish.
I grow this vine and have tried making rice with the flowers multiple times – 2 cup rice, 3 cups water, 5-6 fresh fl owers. Aside from the rice immediately touching the flowers, the rice doesn’t turn blue. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Eric, thanks for stopping by. Not sure what you are experiencing, what you see in the photos here are exactly as I make it. Maybe increase the flowers to 8 and see how it turns out.
Does it change the taste of the rice? Thank you!
Hello, thanks for stopping by. No, the flower does not change the taste, it is simply for decoration, the flavor of the rice is lemongrass.
Hi Lee, any idea how to cook jasmine rice with blue pea flower, I only wanted some part of the white rice blue, not completely.. thanks:-)
Hi Flo, to cook without a rice cooker, bring 1 1/4 cups of water to a boil, then add 1 cup of rinsed Jasmine rice, stir and bring to a boil again, then reduce heat to low, cover, and cook another 20 minutes. Then turn off the burner and let the pot sit for 10 minutes. covered. Then remove the lid and fluff with a fork. I hope this helps.
Had a question and Lee was super responsive in getting back to me. Thank you!
Wow… I would love to try this, but I don’t think I can get this blue flower in Africa, Nigeria precisely
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Well now, the plant, butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea) is native to Southeast Asia but it has been introduced to the Americas as a cover plant, and I beleive it has been introduced to Africa, not sure if that is stated as South Africa or as Africa as a whole. Have you checked with Garden World in Lagos? Maybe they can order the seeds for you. And honestly, the flower is mainly for the color, the flavor for the rice is from the lemongrass, either fresh or powdered. Good luck and let us know if you get the flowers.
I cannot obtain fresh butterfly pea flowers. Is it ok to use dried flowers? If so, how many?
Hi Nancey, I think 5-6 dried flowers would work well 🙂 Let me know how it works out for you 🙂
Really neat how the flowers transform the color of the rice. Lemongrass gives a nice subtle flavor.
Thanks Sammy. The lemongrass is the main flavor, Malay in origin, colors were used to distinguish the flavors of different rice dishes, very cool in my opinion 😉 This is a common rice we make here.
I made this on 13 Sep 2107 and used 4 flowers, I have revised that on my wife’s recommendation to use 6. I also used powdered lemongrass, perfect subtle flavor. If you cannot find the flowers, just go with lemongrass, fresh or powdered as stated. Excellent side dish with fish or chicken.