Food & Drink

Malaysian cuisine includes every type of South-East Asian cooking. Many dishes are based on a blend of spices, ginger, coconut milk and peanuts. Sambals (ground chilli, onion and tamarind-based pastes) are often used as side dishes. A national favourite is satay, a variety of meats barbecued on small skewers, with a spicy peanut dipping sauce and a salad of cucumber, onion and rice cakes.

Typical Malay Food

• Ayam percik, grilled chicken with spicy sauce.
• Ikan bakar, grilled or barbecued fish with either chilli, kunyit turmeric or other spice based sauce.
• Ikan masin, salted fish.
• Keropok lekor, a savoury cake made from a combination of batter and shredded fish. Sliced and fried just before serving,it is eaten with hot sauce.
• Nasi berlauk, plain rice served with different variety of dishes.
• Nasi goreng kampung, a type of fried rice, traditionally flavoured with pounded fried fish (normally mackerel), though fried anchovies may be used in place of it.
• Nasi lemak - a rice cooked with coconut milk and served with anchovies, nuts, cucumbers, a chili paste known as sambal and a choice of curries.
• Pulut, glutinous rice serve with either rendang or coconut and brown sugar.

Typical Malaysian Indian Food

• Banana leaf rice, white rice served on banana leaf with an assortment of vegetables, curried meat or fish and papadum.
• Idli, made from lentils (specifically black lentils) and rice into patties, usually two to three inches in diameter, and steamed. Most often eaten at breakfast or as a snack, idli are usually served with chutney, sambar, or other accompaniments.
• Putu mayam, a sweet dish of rice noodles with coconut and jaggery as main ingredients.
• Putu piring, a version of putu mayam in which the rice flour dough is used to form a small cake around a filling of coconut and brown sugar.
• Thosai, a batter made from lentils and rice blended with water and left to ferment overnight. The batter is spread into a thin, circular disc on a flat, preheated pan, where it is fried with a dash of edible oil or ghee until the dosa reaches a golden brown colour. Then the thosai may optionally be turned over on the pan, and partially fried. The end product is neatly folded and served. Thosai is served with sambar (vegetable curry) and coconut chutney.

Typical Malaysian Mamak Food

Mamak (Indian Muslims) dishes have developed a distinctly Malaysian style. Available throughout the country, the omnipresent Mamak stalls or restaurants are particularly popular among the locals as they offer a wide range of food and some outlets are open 24 hours a day.

• Roti canai, a thin bread with a flaky crust, fried on a skillet and served with condiments. It is sometimes referred to as roti kosong.
• Roti telur, a roti canai with egg in it.
• Maggi goring, a dish of fried Maggi instant noodles with flavouring (usually curry), vegetables, egg, tofu and occasionally chicken.
• Nasi Kandar, white rice or briyani rice served with other dishes of curry either with chicken, fish, beef, or mutton and usually with pickled vegetables. It is usually accompanied by some papadums.

Typical Malaysian Nyonya Food

Nyonya food was invented by the Peranakan people of Malaysia and Singapore. It uses mainly Chinese ingredients but blends them with South-East Asian spices such as coconut milk, lemon grass, turmeric, screwpine leaves, chillies and sambal. It can be considered as a blend of Chinese and Malay cooking.

• Ayam buah keluak, a chicken dish cooked using the nuts from Pangium edule or the 'Kepayang' tree, a mangrove tree that grows in Malaysia and Indonesia.
• Ayam pongteh, a sweetish chicken stew cooked with tauchu and gula Melaka.
• Cincalok, a distinctly Peranakan condiment made of fermented shrimp.
• Otak-otak, a fish cake grilled in a banana leaf wrapping.
• Se Bak, pork loin, marinated overnight with herbs and spices, cooked over a slow fire and simmered to perfection.

Desserts

Desserts in Malaysia tend to make use of generous amounts of coconut milk. Some common desserts include:

• Ais kacang (also known as air batu campur or just ABC), sweet corn, red beans and cincau (grass jelly) topped with shaved ice, colourful syrups and condensed milk.
• Bubur cha cha, yam and sweet potato cubes served in coconut milk and sago, served hot or cold.
• Cendol, smooth green rice noodles in chilled coconut milk and gula melaka (coconut palm sugar).
• Honeydew sago, honeydew melon cubes served in chilled coconut milk and sago.
• Pulut hitam, black glutinous rice porridge cooked with sago and served hot with coconut milk.

Beverages

Teh tarik literally meaning 'pulled tea', is a well-loved drink amongst Malaysians. Tea is sweetened using condensed milk, and is prepared using out-stretched hands to pour piping hot tea from a mug into a waiting glass, repetitively. The higher the 'pull', the thicker the froth. The 'pulling' of tea also has the effect of cooling down the tea. Teh tarik is a form of art in itself and watching the tea streaming back and forth into the containers can be quite captivating.

Alcohol is allowed; the best local beer is Tiger.