Food in Malaysia

::Dining Out

You could travel to Malaysia just to eat: The variety of food is incredible. Chinese, Indian and Malay cuisines predominate, though in restaurants in larger cities we've even had French and North African dishes. Chicken, fish, noodles and curries are everywhere. The street stalls offer delicious and cheap Malaysian food. The Malaysian food is spicy and coconut milk is a common ingredient. The seafood is excellent.

Some traditional Malay dishes include rendang (beef, lamb and chicken in coconut milk), satay (skewered meat in peanut sauce), pulut (various sticky-rice concoctions cooked inside a banana leaf), ikan bilis (dried anchovies fried in a sauce and served with rice) and murtabak (crepes stuffed with egg, meat and vegetables). For breakfast, you might try roti canai (crepes) with either curry sauce or dahl (lentil sauce). Desserts range from the colourful nyonya kueh (traditional Chinese rice-flour confections) to the totally cold and colourful ais kacang (shaved ice sprinkled with gelatin cubes, colored syrups, condensed milk, corn and kidney beans).

Malaysia also offers a cornucopia of delicious tropical fruits: rambutan (similar to lychee), mangosteen (probably the best-tasting tropical fruit) and the infamous durian (undoubtedly the world's smelliest). Coffee and beer (Anchor and Tiger brands) are quite good. Be sure to order teh tarik in an Indian tea shop just to see the server "pull" the tea -- that is, ceremoniously pour the tea into your glass from several feet away (its not just drama -- the practice cools the tea).

Extracted from Flavours Magazine (Dec 2002-Feb 2003)

NOODLES

1.	Taiwanese Noodle minced chicken noodle
2.	Wantan Noodle
3.	Duck Mee
4.	Pork ribs noodles
5.	Mee Goreng
6.	Mee Kahwin

Wantan Noodle
This popular dish has an apparent difference. It is prepared with a big blob of vermillion red chilli sauce that goes on the plate before anything else. This vinegarish chilli sauce gives noodle a distinctive Malaccan flavour.

Taiwanese Noodle
Fresh noodles made in a secret recipe, serviced with choice of stewed beef, pork ribs, pig’s trotters or minced chicken.

Hee Kiaw
This noodle dish is only found in Malacca. It is noodles with an assortment of fish derived toppings such as fish balls and fish cake slices, seasoned with dark soy sauce and chilli sauce.

Mee Kahwin
The fusion of noodles is the result of marrying (kahwin) mee rebus with Indian rojak. The result is an explosion of sweet, sour and spicy, enriched with curry powder and crushed peanuts. The concoction consist of noodles, bean curd, potatoes, boiled egg and crunch fritters, onion crisps, raw cucumber and yam bean. Don’t forget to eat it the Malaccan way – with a dash of vinegar and kicap manis.

RICE

Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls
This is a Malaccan specialty. Rice boiled in chicken stock and some chicken oil and salt, flavoured with ginger, garlic and shallot and make into rice balls then served with boiled chicken pieces and garnished with cucumber and spring onion, and chilli sauce.

BBQ Pork Rice
Charcoal roasted meat that is golden-crusted, crispy, tender and juicy, tasting of sticky sweet caramel, aromatic and full of flavour. Served with white rice and side dishes such as kangkung, tofu, egg, dried meat and Chinese sausages.

ICY DELIGHTS

Cendol
This traditional Nyonya cendol is made of homemade jade-green cendol that is absolutely creamy, with aromatic palm sugar syrup.

1	Tutti Fruitti (left) & Red bean ice with milk
2	Nyonya Cendol

Tai Bak
A Nyonya dessert in danger of extinction is like a sweet noodle made of rice, tapioca and wheat flour shaped comes in pink and white served with ice and light syrup. Can also add black jelly or read beans and palm sugar syrup.

SATAY
	Satay Celup Satay celup or “satay steamboat” only found in Malacca, is an assortment of raw and semi-cooked seafood, meat and vegetables on skewers that are dunked into a boiling pot of water and eaten with sauce that is similar to the ubiquitious satay sauce but has different ingredients.

NYONYA

1	Curry Debal
2	Steam ladies finger with sambal belacan

Bibik Neo Nyonya Restaurant, No. 6, Ground Floor, Jalan Merdeka, Taman Melaka Raya. Opens 11am-2.30pm / 6-9.30pm. Closes on Mondays.
One of the many nyonya restaurants in town, this place provides home cooked dishes such as Pongteh, Ayam buah Keluak Masak Assam, Geram Asam and Itik Tim. You can also try egg with cincalok, stamed ladies fingers with sambal belacan and otak-otak.

SEAFOOD

1	Crab wok baked in salt
2	2 hell fish fried with chiili

Medan Ikan Bakar Umbai / Pernu. Opens daily 5.30pm to midnight
From town, take the road from Ujong Pasir to Padang Temu. At the end of Padang Temu, turn right and follow the road for the next few kilometers. There is a big signboard just before the turning into the jetty (turn right in front of Esso petrol kiosk). This place consists of a row of shops located next to the jetty to Pulau Besar. Choose any one that catches your fancy. Make your selection from various kinds of local fish, shellfish, crab, squid and prawn and decide how you want them cooked – apart from shellfish that is fried with chilli paste, most seafood and simply grilled over open charcoal. Grilled otak-otak and nasi lemak is also available here.

LOCAL KUIH

1	Malay Kuih
2	Kuih Lapis
3	Putu piring

Warung Kuih Kampung, 202, Jalan Ujong Pasir, (opposite the Police HQ), Opens daily at 3.30-7.30pm
You can get a variety of kuih and dishes (more than 30) from binka to kuih koci to ondeh-ondeh, popiah, nasi lemak bungkus, nasi kunyit, kway teow goring, kuih keria and more.

Warung Kuih Keria Haji Jalil (small stall in Limbongan, opposite beach). Opens 2-6pm. Closes on Fridays.
The plump and luscious kuih keria, a local doughnut made of potato and flour that is deep fried and plunged in hot melted palm sugar for a caramelized effect is especially good here. You can also try out the kuih rengas, fried bananas and fried sweet potatoes.