Nasi lemuni. Ah, I love this Malay dish. Found normally in northern Malaysia; in Perak, Penang, Kedah, the dish is almost like the more popular nasi lemak, only healthier because instead of coconut milk, the juice of the purplish, black leaves of the lemuni plant is used in its preparation, giving the rice its distinctive black colour. Like nasi lemak, it is served with anchovies, eggs and cucumber, salted fish too; and has a plus point because the juice of the lemuni leaves is said to keep one young! That aside, the last nasi lemuni I had wasn't that good. The rice was sodden, just like the rice in King Pasenadi's 10th dream, I suppose. The king's dream of rice boiling in a pot, part cooked, part sodden and part hard and raw was interpreted thus: It was said there would be no rain, and the rain that fall would not fall on tilled and sown land. Crops would be spoiled by heavy rainpour and droughts. Sages, brahmins, guardian dieties , spirits would also become unrighteous. Make no sense to me actually but the last part about good beings turn bad do happen in real life. I suppose that's when one is not mindful and lose sight of the righteous path.
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