The bright blue in this butterflied pair of pulut tai-tai (rm 1.30), a traditional kueh prepared for Nyonya weddings, comes from the sundried, boiled petals of the bunga telang. Whether that flower was chosen because of its resemblance to a part of the female anatomy (hence the scientific name), I don't know. Just don't call it Mulva.
Blue, by the by, is only blue; the glutinous rice is prepared with coconut milk, but the flowers add no flavor of their own. Pulut tai-tai is typically served with kaya, a pandan-flavored coconut spread; here, a firmer pandan layer may have been employed for ease of production and transport.
Aroma Nyonya Kueh
Inside O&S Restaurant, Jln. 20/14, Paramount Garden, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
(one of many locations)
www.AromaNyonya.com
(From a December 2006 visit)
