Kerabu Mania

I'd finally made my own kerabu. It's my first time making it. The key ingredient is the torch ginger flower or bunga kantan. I really love the taste of bunga kantan. I find it really refreshing.

Bunga kantan

I julienned the ginger flower and then the birds' eye chillies.

Julienned bunga kantan and birds' eye chilli

Next, I julienned the shallots.

Julienned shallots

Then I toasted the pounded dried prawns.

Toasted minced dried prawns

I mixed all the julienned ingredients together with lime and castor sugar.

Then I shredded the bittergourd thinly. The bittergourd was rubbed lightly in salt. After a short while, I could squeeze out the bitter juices from the gourd. All I had to do after that was to toss the the bittergourd with half of the mixture of bunga kantan, chillies, shallots and dried prawns mixture, and refrigerated it.

Bittergourd kerabu

I also made Vermicelli Kerabu. What I did was to blanch glass noodles and toss it in the other half of the bunga kantan mixture. I added some fish sauce for taste. I garnished the dish with shredded egg omelette and chopped toasted peanuts.

Vermicelli Kerabu

Well, I did like both my kerabu dishes. However, they were a bit dry, as I did not use any oil. Others felt that the taste of the bunga kantan was a tad too strong.

Anyway, these dishes are definitely not for you if you dislike the taste of bunga kantan.