6 MAY 2015 - 12:58PM

About Malaysian food

Over the centuries, the Malay Peninsula saw ships arriving from the Middle East,
India, Europe, China and Indonesia. This resulted in a melting pot of culture and
cuisine that has managed to retain its own unique flavour to this day.

By SBS Food
1 JUL 2008 - 9:00 AM  UPDATED 6 MAY 2015 - 12:58 PM

In particular, Malaysian food is heavily influenced by Thai, Chinese, Indonesian and

Indian cuisine. These influences extend from the use of the wok to the combinations of
spices used in many popular dishes.

Malay food is generally spicy. Dishes are not always necessarily chilli-hot per se, but
there will always, at the least, be a chilli-based sambal on hand. Traditional Southeast
Asian herbs and spices meet Indian, Middle Eastern and Chinese spices in Malaysian
food, leading to fragrant combinations of coriander and cumin (the basis of many Malay
curries) with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, cardamom, star anise and fenugreek.

As elsewhere in Asia, rice is an essential staple. Local or Thai rice is the most
common, but Indian basmati is used in biryani dishes. Nasi lemak (‘fatty rice’), a dish of
rice steamed with coconut milk and served with dried anchovies (ikan bilis), peanuts,
hardboiled eggs, dried shrimp, cucumber and sambal, is considered Malaysia’s
national dish and may be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is often served with a
choice of curries or a popular spicy meat stew (usually, though not always, beef) known
as rendang. Noodles are another popular starch staple, as are Indian breads such
as roti canai, idli, puri and dhosa, which are commonly eaten with breakfast.
Early Chinese settlers often wed local Malay brides and this gave rise to a generation
of mixed Chinese-Malays known as Peranakan. The Malay word "nonya", a term of
respect for older women, has become synonymous with the distinctive Malaysian-
Chinese cooking style of the Peranakans. The best known example in Australia is the
popular spicy noodle soup laksa, of which there are two main types, curry laksa and
asam laksa. Curry laksa is a coconut curry soup with noodles, while asam laksa is a
sour fish soup with noodles.

Malaysian desserts are wonderfully colourful and creative, including layered rice flour
and coconut sweets, multi-layered butter cake known as Lapis Legit, and sweet
coconut rice balls. A popular dessert is Kueh Bahulu, mini sponge cakes that are
dipped in black coffee.
 Malaysian Food

Peranakan (mixed
Malay Food IIndian Food Dessert
chinese-malays)
food
dhosa
Coconut
Roti sweet
Rendang Spicy
canai
noodle soup Layered
( Laksa) rice flour
idli
Nasi puri
Lemak Multi-layered
butter cake

Kueh
bahulu

Sweet
coconut
rice balls