Hawa’s Artisan Kitchen – Nasi Ulam

Nasi Ulam – Malaysian Warm Herbed Rice Salad

Nasi ulam, or Malaysian warm herbed rice salad, is a heritage Malay and Nyonya/Peranakan (Straits-born Chinese) meal. “Nasi” means rice in Malay and “Ulam” means salad — and the marriage of these two elements creates a celebrated dish that’s exotically aromatic, nutrition-packed, and irresistibly delicious.

Making nasi ulam is not difficult, but the preparation can be time-consuming. I used to watch my mother prepare this dish all alone, finely slicing the many ingredients with care. We are still growing our daun kaduk (betel leaves), one of the key ingredients in nasi ulam, as it’s not sold here in Lahad Datu. While we wait for it to grow, we improvise with what’s locally available at the Lahad Datu market. Don’t let the unavailability of something stop you from cooking — this is an opportunity to be creative!

Traditionally, nasi ulam is served with plain white rice, but since we grow an abundance of butterfly blue pea flowers, we enrich the rice with their high antioxidant content and natural blue color.

Hawa’s Artisan Kitchen has crafted its version of Nasi Ulam using Asian herbs foraged from our very own garden. Together they orchestrate a beautiful harmony of colors and flavors: the canary yellow from turmeric roots, the cobalt blue from butterfly pea flowers, the fiery red from chilies, the pink from ginger torch, and the many shades of green from moringa, beans, and Vietnamese coriander — all combining into a dish that’s as appetizing to the eyes as it is to the palate.

Hawa’s Artisan Kitchen’s Nasi Ulam comes in two versions: the Nasi Ulam Classic, paired with lightly fried turmeric fish and creamy coconut fish gravy; and the Nasi Ulam Vegan (without onion and garlic), paired with handmade moringa and herbed tempeh balls — which are naturally gluten-free.

We hope you enjoy Hawa’s Artisan Kitchen’s Nasi Ulam as much as we enjoyed preparing this beautiful Malay heritage dish for you.

Selamat Menjamu Selera!