Mouthwatering Malaysian DishesA Guide for New Expats in Malaysia

By: Asia Expat Guides

Nasi lemak could be consider-ed as Malaysia's national dish,

which includes coconut rice with spicy sambal, crunchy dried anchovies (ikan bilis),

roasted peanuts, cucumber, and egg

(sometimes sliced of hard-boiled, sometimes cooked

like a flat omelet). While considered classic comfort

food, it's a showcase of flavors and textures, from

the delicate coconut to the brash belacan, the tender

bite of rice and the salty crunch of anchovies. It's

often eaten as a breakfast food, but can be a snack at any time of the day, and to

bulk it up, it might be served with a seafood or

chicken curry, or vegetables, or beef

rendang.

Nasi Lemak

There are so many versions of Hokkien Mee (Chinese

style fried yellow noodles) in Malaysia. If you’re in Kuala Lumpur, you will

most likely meet the Hokkien Char mee, which

is a dish of thick yellow noodles braised in thick

dark soy sauce with pork, squid, fish-cake and

cabbage as the main ingredients and cubes of crispy fried pork lard as

garnishing. Did you know what the most fantastic

part of the dish is? Definitely the fried pork

lard, as many would attest to!

Hokkien Mee

There are endless varitions of laksa, Malaysia's beloved

noodle soup, but there are two major categories: asam laksa

and curry laksa. Asam laksa has a tart tamarind-based

broth and is generally cooked with a flaky white fish. It

consists of noodles on the bottom, cucumber and

pineapple and the bitter torch ginger flower to top. On the

other hand, curry laksa is the richer member of the laksa

family, thanks to coconut. The scrumptious curry laksa

consists of noodles topped with shrimp, tofu puffs,

cucumber, fish balls, and eggs, soaked in coconut milk broth

with distinctive flavor of turmeric and ginger and lemongrass, chilies and

belacan. It is just impossible to decide which one of the two

variations is better.

Laksa

Roti canai is a classic Malaysian breakfast of

Indian derivation, though this flaky finger food is good any time of day.

This dough of flour, egg, and ghee (clarified

butter) is incredibly elastic; it's stretched

quickly into a tissue-thin sheet, like pizza dough

but even more dramatic, then folded back up and

griddled. In its best form, right off the griddle, it's

flaky and crisp like a good croissant on the

outside, soft and steaming and a little bit chewy on the inside. It's

also served with curry, often lentil dal; other

versions are cooked with egg, or onion, or

sardines. Definitely a must-try!

Roti Canai

Although satay is a dish that can be found in other places like the

neighboring countries Thailand and Indonesia, Malaysians will proudly declare that they have the best satay. Satays are skewered chicken, beef, mutton or pork,

served with a spicy peanut sauce dip, or

peanut gravy, slivers of onions and cucumbers,

and ketupat (rice cakes). Next time you see towering piles of

skewers in hawker stalls, don’t miss them.

Satay

For more information about being an expat in Asia, visit http://asiaexpatguides.com