Introduction

      Malay cuisine is as interesting and extraordinary as its people. The culinary fare of the Malay community originates from a diverse historical heritage. Influence from the Indonesian, Thai, Arabic, and Chinese cooking styles have created a culinary legacy that is both distinct and exotic. Well know Malay food are include ketupat, Satay, Nasi Lemak Roti Canai and Rendang all are serve in halal. And that is also one of the reasons why Malaysia is fast becoming one of the world’s most popular places for food enthusiasts. In the next blog, We will bring you for a short tour on some of the more popular food in Malaysia.

Ais Kacang

Traditionally a special ice machine is used to churn out the shaved ice used in the dessert.,
Formerly, it was made of only shaved ice and red beans. Today, ice kacang generally comes in bright colours, and with different fruit cocktails and dressings. Several varieties have also been introduced, those of which contain aloe vera in one form or another (e.g. jelly). Often, a large serving of attap chee (palm seed), red beans, sweet corn, grass jelly, cubes of agar agar and cendol form the base. Evaporated milk, condensed milk, or coconut milk is drizzled over the mountain of ice. To cater to the palates of the modern customer, some stalls have even introduced novelty toppings such as durian, chocolate syrup and ice cream. There are also versions that shun the multi-coloured syrup and are served with just a drizzling of gula melaka syrup instead.

Sup Gearbox

 All the local soups available on the market, sup gearbox must be the one with the most unusual name. It’s really bone marrow soup. If you are familiar with sup tulang (bone soup) or sup ekor (oxtail soup), then this one is not much different.Sup gearbox is basically this huge chunk of bone in a richly flavoured soup, plus some garnishing.And the whole thing can be enjoyed with either steamed rice or bread.Another unusual thing is that sup gearbox is usually served with a knife and fork, ostensibly to make it easier to slice the leftover meat and fat. But often you will be forced to use your bare hands to tear the bone apart. Be prepared to get a little messy.

Most restaurants will normally also serve the soup with a straw. Yes, the common drinking straw. You use the straw to slurp the rich bone marrow together with a bit of soup. Yummy!

Laksa

Laksa is another famous delicacy in Malaysia. It is actually a spicy noodle soup with an assortment of different contents depending on the type of laksa. In Malaysia, we have the normal curry laksa, assam laksa, Johor laksa, Sarawak laksa and others. The most popular versions have to be the curry laksa (made of coconut-based curry soup and contains bean curds, fish cakes, fish sticks, shrimps, cockles and your selection of noodles), and assam laksa which is also commonly known as Penang laksa (the taste is a mixture of spiciness and sourness and may content ingredients such as mackerel, onions, cucumbers, red chilli, pineapples, mints, etc). You can find the normal curry laksa in most food courts, hawker centres and restaurants selling local food. However, other more unique laksa dishes such as Johor laksa, Penang laksa and Sarawak laksa might require you to travel to the specialty shops in order to try them.

Char Kuey Teow

Char Kway Teow or fried flat noodles is a very popular dish in Malaysia and Singapore. It is fried with very high heat and mixed with a combination of dark and light soy sauce, prawns, fish cakes, chilli, eggs, bean sprouts and cockles. Some stalls also include chicken or crisp of beef just to make it tastier. It is very unhealthy and have very high cholesterol content. For this delicacy, you can easily find it in Malaysia – food courts, hawker stalls, restaurants, etc. It has to be one of the most commonly found foods in Malaysia.

Nasi Kandar

Nasi Kandar is very popular in Malaysia especially in the Northern part of the country. It actually consists of steamed white rice and served with a wide variety of side dishes of your choice. It is actually quite similar to mixed rice since you get to choose the type of side dishes to go with the rice. The only difference here is that a typical plate of Nasi Kandar is normally served with few types of curries. Each curry has its own spices and tastes, and a mixture of all the different curries really make the entire Nasi Kandar very delicious. Don’t worry about mixing the wrong curries because the shopkeepers will know which to mix without you telling them. Just be careful of the price especially when taking seafood side dishes such as squid, crab, fish or prawn.

Roti Canai

Roti Canai is a very popular bread delicacy in Malaysia. The word “roti” actually means bread in Malay while the word “canai” means spreading out which is the way the delicacy is being prepared. It is actually a kind of dough made using fat, egg, flour and water. This mixture is then kneaded, oiled and folded repeatedly before being left for a certain amount of time. Next, the dough will be fried with bit of oil on a flat frying pan. The finished product is bread which is flat and fluffy on the inside but crispy on the outside. It will then be served with spicy gravy such as dal or curry. Besides the traditional roti canai, there are also other types of roti which uses additional ingredients on top of those used for preparing roti canai such as roti telur (egg), roti tisu (tissue bread, which is very thin and normally filled with a thin layer of sugar and condensed milk), roti bawang (onion bread), roti cheese, roti pisang (banana bread), roti planta (contains margarine), etc. You can easily find these roti delicacies in most mamak stalls, Indian and Malay food outlets

Rojak

Rojak is the Malay word for mixture and the dish is actually a mixture of fruits and vegetables, mixed with spicy and thick sauce. The ingredients and type of sauce used will depend on the type of rojak. There are few types of rojak in Malaysia such as the Indian rojak (uses hard-boiled eggs, cucumber, bean sprouts, bean curds, potatoes and fritters), fruit rojak (consists mainly of tropical fruits such as guava, pineapple, turnip, deep fried tofu, mangoes, green apples, etc) and Penang rojak (quite similar to fruit rojak except for the usage of squid and water apple). As for the dressing or sauce, it can be a mixture of shrimp paste, chilli, lime juice, etc

Briyani Rice

The name Biryani actually means fried or roasted in Persian word. This delicacy is very popular not only in Malaysia but also in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Singapore. It is said to be made of basmati rice cooked with spices (cumin, beans, peas, cinnamon, coriander, ginger, onion, garlic, etc) and served with a wide range of vegetables and meats. The end result is orange and brownish coloured rice with a very unique and distinctive (very delicious) taste. Add it with some sweet and sour vegetables, chicken or mutton curry, and you will have one of the tastiest rice delicacy ever

Banana Leaf Rice

Banana leaf rice is actually a South Indian cuisine which consists of white rice, vegetables, curry (can be fish, chicken or mutton curry), pickles and my personal favourite deep fried papadom (a kind of cracker with very unique and salty taste). The rice and the side dishes are then served on a piece of banana leaf which is said to improve the digestion and also adds a certain fragrance to the rice. You can also add other side dishes such as fried fish cakes, fish head curry, etc. It depends on the restaurant selling since the type of side dishes differ from one restaurant to the other. However, do be careful when ordering the side dishes as some of them might be quite expensive. The standard banana leaf rice does not cost much. It is the side dishes which normally cost a bomb. Although the price is quite expensive, banana leaf rice is still undoubtedly one of the most popular South Indian cuisines in Malaysia.

Satay and Ketupat

Satay or sate is another famous Malay delicacy in Malaysia. It consists of slices of dice-sized meat on skewers made of bamboo or coconut leaf spine. These dices of meat are then barbecued over wood or charcoal fire and served with spicy peanut gravy which the local people called as kuah. As for the type of meat used, the most commonly found versions are the chicken, goat and beef. There are also chicken, fish, rabbit and deer meat but those are quite rare. The taste depends on the type of meat used but most of them have a kind of turmeric taste which is used to marinate the meat dices. Other side dishes which can be found with satay are onions, cucumbers and ketupat which are rice dumplings wrapped in woven pouches made of palm leaf. If you are interested in this delicacy, you just need to go to any local open-air food outlets, and you will most likely be able to find it due to its overwhelming popularity.

Nasi lemak -The malaysian favourite food

Nasi Lemak is a very popular delicacy in Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand and Brunei. It is also regarded as the national dish of Malaysia due to its popularity among the local people and also among tourists. If you translate this to English word, Nasi Lemak literally means Rice Cream. It is actually made by mixing the rice with coconut cream and steam the mixture together to produce the cooked rice. The traditional Nasi Lemak comes with the rice, cucumber slices, deep fried anchovies (known as ikan bilis), roasted peanuts and hot spicy chilli sauce (sambal). There are other variations which add fried egg or hard-boiled egg, vegetables, spicy cuttlefish, chicken or beef curry. The possibilities are limitless

Conclusion

As you know, there are a variety of foods in malaysia. It all came from different nations, but together into one. All people can taste food from various ethnic groups. From main dishes to desserts, which we can experience a variety of tastes like sweet, sour, spicy, and bitter. You certainly will not feel loss to try the unique cuisine of Malaysian society