bunga telang

Ever wondered why the blue color of the nyonya kuih (cakes) and nasi kerabu had slightly off compared to the yesteryears? I would think that this could be due to the use of artificial coloring

When I was a kid, dad used to plant bushels of bunga telang (clitoria) along the house fence and it was our duty to pick the flowers which have fully bloomed early in the morning before separating the pods. The flowers are then left to dry in the sun.

Once dried, we would store it in Nescafe bottles (who says recycle wasn't thought about previously), plastic containers or even plastic bags for mum to used in baking her tasty nyonya kuih.

The dried flowers would be boiled in hot water and then extract the color from the flowers to be used as coloring.

The plant is rarely seen nowadays and I was real glad to see one recently where I could not hold back the memories of picking the dried pods containing the seeds for planting. Mum was wondering what was happening when I started taking pictures of this plant.

Bunga telang with its deep blue flowers are also known curing cough and in India, the roots are used for ayurveda Indian medicine.