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Recipe

Nasi kuning

Yellow rice cooked with turmeric, lemongrass, lime leaf, and coconut milk. The rice under a Balinese feast, as cooked in the Petulu class.

All recipes·Serves 4 servings·Prep 10 minutes·Cook 20 minutes

A guest stir-frying at a wok in a village kitchen

Nasi kuning is everyday celebration rice: white rice stained with turmeric and scented with lemongrass and coconut milk. It is the base of the plate, not a side thought.

Rinse the rice until the water runs almost clear. Turmeric on unrinsed starch turns muddy instead of gold.

Ingredients

  • 300g jasmine rice, rinsed
  • 250ml coconut milk
  • 200ml water
  • 1 teaspoon ground fresh turmeric, or 1/2 teaspoon powder
  • 1 lemongrass stalk, bruised
  • 2 lime leaves
  • 1 salam leaf, if you have it
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

  1. Stir the rice, coconut milk, water, turmeric, lemongrass, leaves, and salt in a pot.
  2. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook on low until the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid early.
  3. Rest off the heat for 10 minutes. Pull out the lemongrass and leaves, then fluff.
  4. The rice should be gold and separate. If it looks wet, leave the lid ajar for a few minutes.

In the class this rice is cooked while the sate and sambal are finished, then set out with the dishes you just made.