Taking a cooking class on any vacation is a fantastic way to learn about the local cuisine and to meet others traveling the world. My friend Sharon and I took a Malaysian cooking class with Ruqxana @cookerymagic and she was such a gracious hostess in her home.
Almost all the herbs used came from her lovely garden and they were picked fresh as we toured the garden.
This gorgeous Butterfly Pea Flower was picked for decoration and the dried version is soaked in water to give rice an amazing blue color. It has no flavor, but the color is a nice contrast against the green of all the fresh herbs used.
Roqxana, our hostess in her outdoor kitchen.
We chopped a lot of fresh herbs in the 5 dishes we made: Blue Butterfly Pea Flower Rice; Fish, Prawns and Roasted Coconut Sambal; Chili and Coconut Samba; Calamansi Lime Belachan Sambal and Chicken Soup.
Just a short list of the many herbs we chopped: tumeric, lemongrass, ginger, chinese celery, galangal, ginger flower, ginger leaves, asian pennyworth, mint leaves, kaffir lime leaves, young cashew leaves, wild pepper leaves, wild cosmos, coriander leaves, thai basil and turmeric leaves.
My friend Sharon stir frying the spice paste (shallots, garlic, bellman and lemongrass) and oil until it separates from the paste for the Sambal with fish, prawns and roasted coconut.
Me, cooking up the Chili and Coconut Sambal (my favorite)
Chicken stock with spice paste, water, chinese celery, glass noodles boiled then simmered.
Finished Blue Butterfly Pea Rice with dried blue butterfly pea flower water strained with herbs, spices and fresh pea flowers, soaked and then cooked in a rice cooker.
Lunch is served.
Next time you are in Singapore, visit Ruqxana @cookerymagic.
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