There's just something about the twinning of the words ‘flowers’ and ‘Thailand’ that seems very natural and organic. While the South East Asian nation’s national flower — the orchid — is flown into India by the plane-load almost every day straight from the Pak Khlong Talat wholesale flower market in Bangkok, decorating many a wedding mandap , it’s edible counterparts are ne’er too far away!
While we’ve seen the ‘blooming’ of chrysanthemum flowers and syrups in several cocktail preparations across India, it’s another flower that’s been recently painting the Mumbai dining scene a vivid shade of blue. Enter the butterfly pea flower.
The flower, of the Clitoria ternatea plant, when steeped in water has been a perennial favourite herbal tea in Thailand for centuries where it is known as nam dok anchan.
It is renowned for its health benefits, from taking care of conjunctivitis to enhancing memory. Distilling all this into one bizarre looking, but flavourful rice preparation is Mumbai’s newest Thai restaurant Nara Thai.
Khao Phad Samunprai or Butterfly Pea Flower Rice may be a tongue-twister of a name, but this novel rice preparation is a delicious blend of pre-cooked short grain rice, sliced lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves that are wok-tossed with young peppercorns, deep fried red chilli and splashed with the unusual white soy sauce and a decoction of dried butterfly pea flowers steeped in warm water.
At first luridly blue, this rice takes on a shocking purple hue when one squeezes a bit of lime juice over it, with the acidity of the lime juice reacting with the butterfly pea flower to incite this change.
How’s that for a touch of psychedelia on your plate!
—Short grain Thai rice is first precooked and tossed with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves along with young peppercorns and deep fried red chilli
—All this is garnished with fried cashewnuts, a small cucumber, crispy catfish, coriander and chilli
—A cheek of lime helps turn the blue rice grains purple when squeezed over it
The Mumbai-based writer is passionate about food, travel and luxury, not necessarily in that order.
