You cannot understand Kelantan food without budu. It is a sauce made by fermenting anchovies with salt over months, the East Coast cousin of the fish sauces found across the region, and it carries a deep, savoury, slightly sweet punch that locals build whole meals around.
Its natural home is nasi kerabu, the blue herb rice, where a spoon of budu pulls the fresh herbs, coconut and fried fish into one. It turns up again drizzled over ulam, the raw vegetable platter, and as a dip for fruit. Used with a light hand, it does for Kelantan cooking what a good stock does elsewhere.
You will find rows of it at Pasar Siti Khadijah, the central market, where the sellers will tell you, firmly, which bottle is best. A sealed bottle travels home well as an edible souvenir. New to all this? Start with the food guide for newcomers.