Butterfly Pea

Here is the flower that gives Nasi Kerabu the pretty shade of blue. Commonly known as bunga telang, it is called butterfly pea or clitoria flower in English. Before artificial coloring becomes widely available, Malays and Peranakan use the bunga telang as a natural blue dye for cakes, kuehs and dumplings. In modern times, the bunga telang is rarely seen or used outside of the domestic kitchen as extracting the color is time consuming and many flowers are required just to dye a small quantity of food. I certainly did not know that we have two of the creeper plant in the garden until a Malay friend of the Mother pointed it out to us. The garden being the Father's playground, we are usually ignorant of what he has planted in there.

I have started collecting the butterfly pea flowers for drying. When I have enough flowers, I will try my hands on making some kuehs and use the petals to color them a deep indigo.

Comments

[Big BoK]

Hmmm.. interesting.. i didn't know that. :)

[Big BoK]

Nice banner ..ST..!

[clare eats]

Do you know what the english name is??

They are a beautiful Pea, I can't wait to see the food that you die from the flowers

[Cindy Fredericka]

Thks for the info. Interesting. Would love to see yr "blue kueh". :0) Nice banner too.

[Reid]

Hi ST,

I haven't seen this flower before and I can't wait to see how you use it to die all of the wonderful treats you are going to make. I ate some kuehs that were dyed blue and was told it was because of this here flower.

Good luck and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us all.

[ST]

Hi Big BoK, thanks.

Hi clare, its just butterfly pea and the latin name is clitoria ternatea.

Thanks cindy.

Hi Reid, I am really not good at making but I wil give it a try :)

[celiaK]

OMG, a 'clitoria flower'??? :LOL:
Its deep shade of blue is really beautiful.

[boo_licious]

So lucky of you to have the plant at home. It's so rare nowadays that people don't use it for colouring already.

[Krista]

What timing--I've been obsessed with bunga telang after seeing photos of blue nasi kerabu and a blue Nonya dumpling on the cover of "Flavours" magazine. I'm a New Yorker, so this flower is very foreign (and fascinating) to me.

I wonder if anyone in Singapore (or Malaysia) knows of any commerical bakers/hawkers/cooks that still use bunga telang instead of blue dye? I ask because I'm doing research for a potential article and will be in Singapore and a few Malaysian cities in Sept. and would love to see someone actually using it.

[J]

hi st, wow, your very own butterfly pea plant!...usually, i beg them off my parent's neighbour, who has a plant creeping up her fence...

[Asma Husna]

Hi,
I'm very interested to know more about Butterfly Pea. Can you send me the information about nutrient content of this flower.
Thank you so much.

[kat]

I remembered as a teen hunting & picking the bunga telang for my Mom (for her Nyonya dumplings) in our kampong where they grow wild back in the early 1970's before Singapore became the urban jungle that it is now. You are so lucky that your Dad has the plant in his garden. Thanks for the memories. IMO, Nyonya dumplings without the bunga telang is just not the same.

[tea drinker]

can the blue pea flower be used like tea leaves -for a hot drink ? is it safe ?

[ST]

Hi tea drinker, the flower will be safe to be made into a drink but it will be pretty tasteless.

[Andrew Spark]

I came across your site and enjoyed my visit. Thank You.

[K]

I'm trying to grow this plant after begging for a few seeds from my neighbour. I think its a pity that this plant is not easily found anymore & I hope to cultivate a few at home.

[Miru]

Hi do you know how to cook nasi kerabu with the clitoria flower?

[Kit]

Hi, once you have the flower, how do you extract its dye for the nyonya "sweets"? Do you pound the flower (like you do pandan leaves) in order to get the colour. Or do you cook the glutionous rice together with the blooms? Thanks.

[ST]

Hi Kit

Yes, pound the flowers to extract the colour.

[SiewEan]

Would you have any idea where I can get this plant or seeds in Melbourne? I am a nyonya and would love very much to have this plant in my garden.

[Mel]

Hello, do you know where I could find the plant or seeds in KL/Selangor? Many thanks.

[soloitgeek]

Same here, may I know where can I find the seed or plant in Klang/Selangor?? Anyone who have it can send an email to me [email protected] .Many thanks.

[Sterk]

I'm looking for a recipe. I had the drink when I lived in Bang Na, Thailand. I simply loved it.

[Yee]

Hi I was lucky that my great friend brought three little plants for my little hobby farm in Brunei from KL. Only one survived but it became a nice strong plant. It adds colour to my farm. Very pretty indeed.