Add colour to your meals with a rainbow grain bowl

Rustle up this rice salad - inspired by a southern Thai dish called khao yam or khao yum, and the beautiful herb rice salad nasi kerabu - affordably.

And while you are at it, why not amp up its Instagram appeal and add more colour - in fact, all the colours of the rainbow - to your bowl?

The deep blue hue of the rice comes from dried butterfly pea flower and is fragranced with kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and torch ginger bulb.

To keep costs down, I suggest taking a trip to the wet market where it is possible to buy vegetables in small quantities. For example, instead of buying a whole head of purple cabbage, I asked to buy a quarter (150g), which cost 70 cents.

Pack this colourful grain bowl to work and it is bound to become a talking point.

INGREDIENTS

For the assembly of the bowl

• 150g purple cabbage, shredded
• 40g shallots, finely sliced
• 3 mini peppers, finely sliced
• 2 winged beans (30g), finely sliced
• 3 stalks of long beans (100g), finely sliced
• 1 Japanese cucumber (100g), diced
• 1/2 tbsp dried shrimp powder
• 150g roasted peanuts
• 1 stalk of lemongrass (use 5cm of the white root part, remove the outer two layers and slice finely)
• 1 torch ginger bulb (use 5cm of the bulb tip, slice finely)
• 4 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
• 1 lime (70g), sectioned

For the rice

• 500ml water
• 7g dried butterfly pea flowers
• 2 rice cups of basmati rice (270g), soaked for 30 minutes
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 stalk of lemongrass
• Leftover portion of torch ginger bulb

For the chicken

• 1 litre of water
• Remaining portion of the two lemongrass stalks used for the assembly and dressing of the bowl
• 2 whole garlic cloves, bruised
• 3 slices of ginger (10g)
• 1 coriander root
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 chicken fillets (200g)

For the dressing

• 50g tamarind pulp
• 100ml water
• 80ml chicken stock (reserved from cooking the chicken fillets)
• 10g ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 stalk of lemongrass (use 5cm of the white root part, remove the outer two layers and slice finely)
• 3 shallots, peeled and sliced
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 20g palm sugar
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp dried shrimp powder

METHOD

Cook the rice

1. Bring 500ml of water to boil in a saucepan. Add the dried butterfly pea flowers. Simmer for five minutes, then turn off the heat.

2. Place the basmati rice in the rice cooker. Add the butterfly pea flower mixture, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass stalk and leftover torch ginger bulb. Cook for 30 minutes or until rice is cooked through.

3. Set aside.

Cook the chicken

1. Bring 1 litre of water to a boil.

2. Add the lemongrass, garlic, ginger, coriander root and salt.

3. Cover and bring to a boil. Boil over high heat for five minutes.

4. Place the chicken fillets into the water and poach for two minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the chicken from the pot. Allow to cool and slice. Set aside.

5. Reserve 80ml of the cooking liquid to make the dressing.

Make the dressing

1. Soak the tamarind pulp in 100ml of water. Strain and reserve the tamarind juice.

2. Use a mortar and pestle to pound the ginger, garlic, lemongrass, shallots and dried chilli flakes.

3. In a saucepan, pour the chicken stock, add the garlic mixture, tamarind juice, palm sugar, fish sauce and dried shrimp powder.

4. Bring the mixture to a boil and mix well.

5. Cover and let it simmer for two minutes. Set aside.

Assemble the rice bowl

1.Place 100g of the butterfly pea flower rice in serving bowl.

2. Arrange a portion of the shredded purple cabbage, shallots, mini peppers, winged beans, long beans, cucumber and chicken.

3. Garnish with 1/2 tbsp of dried shrimp powder, roasted peanuts, sliced lemongrass, torch ginger bulb, lime leaves and a slice of lime.

4. Serve with dressing on the side.

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