The reason for the gastronomic diversity of Malaysia lies in the geographical location and history of this country. The port cities of the Malay Peninsula and nearby islands once stopped thousands of merchant ships from the Middle East, India, China and Indonesia. The culinary traditions of different peoples were borrowed, acquired an independent life in Malaysia, or in one way or another influenced already existing recipes. So, gradually, over several centuries, a certain common gastronomic layer was formed, which is generally called the “cuisine of Malaysia”.
Rice is the head of everything
Muslims and Buddhists, Chinese and Hindus, rich and poor - all Malaysians eat the same amount. rice. Whatever they do with it: boil it, steam it, fry it, and also lay it in the bamboo cavity and cook it on coals. Rice is cooked with coconut milk, spices, vegetables, seafood, herbs, even with sugar…
Rice is both a side dish and an integral part of many dishes: it is used to make noodles, rice porridge bubur and even desserts. In the name of the dishes you will often find the word "nasi" (nasi), which means "rice": nasi ayam (nasi ayam), nasi goreng (nasi goreng), nasi lemak (nasi lemak, on the picture), nasi kandar (nasi kandar), nasi padang (nasi padang)... The second word most often indicates what else will be on the same plate with rice or how it will be cooked.
spicy chord
But Malay cuisine does not live by rice alone. Bright and rich taste is given to dishes prepared from fresh ingredients. spicy pastes and dry spices.
Centuries ago, merchants from India and the Arabian Peninsula introduced the locals to some spices and curry mix. Later, the Portuguese colonialists brought chili peppers to Southeast Asia, without which a rare dish or sauce is now dispensed in Malaysia. Malay cuisine is also inconceivable without garlic, which is part of most meat, fish and vegetable dishes, pastes and sauces; without ginger (by the way, it is used not only in cooking, but also in medicine); without lemongrass, which gives a delicate aroma to soups, curries and teas. Malay housewives also use coconut milk, soy sauce and other spices and spices - coriander, cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, anise. All together or in certain combinations, they are added to many dishes, from soups and appetizers to desserts, and the preferences and choice of dishes depend on the nationality of the chefs. More sharp and spicy spices, as well as coconut, are used by the Malays, Indians prefer curry, and the Chinese flavor dishes mainly with herbs.
cultural mosaic
Culinary acquaintance with Malaysia is worth starting with traditional Malay food. Since the majority of ethnic Malays are Muslims, you will never find forbidden pork or alcohol in their diet, and all ingredients and cooking methods will be halal.
The main dishes of Malay cuisine are made from chicken, fish, lamb or beef, along with vegetables and herbs (some of which grow and are eaten only in Malaysia). Start with steamed spicy rice nasi lemak (nasi lemak), which is often served with chicken, beef, or curried seafood; add slices to it fresh cucumber, a handful of roasted peanuts and a pinch of the smallest dried fish and get the most common breakfast in Malaysia.
For lunch you will most often meet fried rice nasi goreng (nasi goreng) or fried noodles mi goreng (mee goreng, on the picture). There are many recipes, the principle is the same: rice or noodles are fried with a mixture of chili, garlic, as well as eggs, shrimp, tomatoes, etc. Sometimes tofu is added to the dish and seasoned with lime juice.
Naturally, depending on the natural features and position of the region, its specialization, historical development and local traditions, the recipes and ingredients of the dishes will vary significantly. For example, in the north of the country, a distinct sour note is felt in dishes (more tamarind, carambola and lime are added to dishes) and the influence of neighboring Thailand can be traced. In addition, northern Malay cuisine is distinguished by the delicate aroma of lemongrass, pandanus, kaffir and Thai basil.
The southwest coast and south of Malaysia are served with Indonesian spicy dishes with fish and meat. Even in the name of the dishes there is a mention of the place of origin. mi java (mee java)- noodles in a thick spicy sauce, accompanied by crispy fish biscuits, potato slices and soy shoots - came with the Javanese settlers. Nasi padang (nasi padang)- rice with vegetables and spicy meat, fish or chicken - a reminder of Padang, in western Sumatra.
We also mention popular throughout Malaysia sate (satay)- small skewers of chicken or meat served with peanut sauce. This dish is borrowed from the cuisine of neighboring Indonesia.
Closest to Malay cuisine is indian, first of all, the one that is prepared by Hindus who profess Islam (as a rule, people from South India). However, what Indians from other states offer in their restaurants (for example, Sikhs from Punjab or Tamils from Tamil Nadu) is also loved and popular among Malaysians and its guests. Get ready to sizzle spicy soups, vegetarian dishes and meat the most delicate dishes, cooked in a tandoor (clay oven), as well as Indian dishes that you will not find in India itself: the local version of mi goreng, which uses Chinese yellow noodles, tofu, soy sprouts, shrimp paste, or mi siam (mee siam), - a variation on the theme of Thai noodles.
But, perhaps, the main specialty of Indians living in Malaysia is roti chanai (roti canai). The preparation of this thin puff pastry is a real performance: a ball of tight dough is “rolled out” with quick rotations (in air) to the thickness of tissue paper, then it is instantly placed on a hot flat brazier and folded into an envelope. The secret ingredient that distinguishes Malay roti from any other is literally a spoonful of condensed milk, which is added to the dough. The most delicate crispy flatbread is eaten with curry or dal, a stew of lentils and vegetables. If they put inside the roti chopped meat(from lamb or chicken) with onions, such a dish is called martabak (murtabak).
Chinese question
Approximately one third of the population of Malaysia are ethnic Chinese who arrived from various provinces (mainly southern) of mainland China and the island of Hainan. Most of them settled in the country during the British colonial era. It was they who taught the Malays to skillfully use the wok and enriched the Malay table with such exotic dishes as fried duck tongues, shark fin soup, jellyfish salad, stewed sea cucumber or swallow nest soup.
Exotic, however, is exotic, and the daily Chinese-style meal looks much simpler: during the meal, several dishes are served at once, usually some kind of soup, fried rice and / or noodle dishes, and several main dishes with various sauces that tantalize the appetite. Very popular in restaurants dim sum (dim sum) with pork and thin noodles (wonton me) or flat rice noodles with pieces pork sausage and soy sauce.
Muslim Malays don't go to Chinese restaurants because most of them serve pork, but every Malay knows what it is. behun (beehoon). This dish of thin fried rice vermicelli has become a staple in Malay wedding menus. Chinese dishes, in turn, have been enriched in Malaysia with new nuances: Malay and Indian spices and English sauces.
The dishes prepared by pernakan are incredibly interesting. This ethnic group, born of intermarriage (usually a Chinese man and a Malay woman), not only has its own unique cuisine, but also its language, traditions and clothing. Let's add in parentheses that you can meet other names of representatives of this ethnic group, and so: the word "baba" is called a Pernakan man, and the word "Nyonya" is a Pernakan woman. You can get acquainted with the original culture of the Peranakans in Penang or Malacca. What you have to try is unparalleled. Baba/Nyonya prepare pork and other traditional Chinese foods with local ingredients and spices. Peranakan food is quite inventive and requires a lot of time and ingredients, however, simple dishes such as laksa (laxa)- soup with Chinese noodles and Malay spices, pineapple patties or rice balls chicken from Malacca will be remembered for a long time.
To be honest, even while planning a trip to Malaysia, I strongly doubted that my Russian stomach would be able to withstand fiery Asian food. Most of us are familiar with the stereotypes that Asian food is very spicy, rich in spices and spices, and not everyone will like it.
In this regard, they took with them: capsules for heartburn "Omeprazole", tablets "No-shpa" for eliminating abdominal pain, tablets "Loperamide" for diarrhea (in Russian, sorry, for diarrhea). Well, just in case - tablets of the good old activated carbon.
I must say right away - I did not have to use a single drug! For all ten days of being abroad, my body very warmly accepted spicy Asian food. And the best part is, I really liked it!
I was very interested in an interesting report in the roundup of daily world news: two or three weeks before the trip, the news flashed that Australia sent two sea containers with frozen chicken legs to Malaysia. However, the products did not pass sanitary control, as a result of which it was decided to destroy them. But as often happens, they decided not to bother much with this matter - they dug a huge hole in Borneo and quietly threw all the rejected products there, throwing sand from above. It would seem that the deed is done. But it was not there! Some Malaysian saw this action, was horrified - “Well, how much good is dying!”. I dug up this case and brought home a full package of almost fresh legs! "Word of mouth" works with lightning speed: a day later the hole was dug up by cunning local residents, who immediately rinsed the legs in the water from the sand, and floated them to the markets of Malaysia. A day later, all the markets were flooded with cheap chicken at 7-8 ringit per kilo)) Therefore, seeing the chicken on the menu, I especially meticulously examined the dish before eating))
So, having arrived in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, I first encountered Asian food in the street cafe "ABC" not far from our hotel Nu [email protected] Sentral. Climbing through the menu, I ordered myself some kind of incomprehensible vermicelli with slices of cucumbers, boiled egg. All this was richly flavored with a spicy brown sauce. And in the dish there were pieces of some vegetables that I could not identify (orange in the photo). But it tastes just fine!
Then, guided by the photos presented in the menu, I ordered a super-dish! represents a huge thin pancake rolled into a cone, put on a plate and sprinkled with sugar. The dough is very hard and crumbly, crumbles when touched with a crunch. It seems that this is a lot, but in reality it is not, there is only emptiness inside)) Delicious!
From drinks I took cold coffee with ice (very refreshing in the heat!) And a glass of mango juice. For dessert, there was a banana with scoops of ice cream topped with chocolate syrup:
This is how I got introduced to Asian food. The first dish was spicy, but the fact is that I am already a fan of spices - pepper, garlic, etc. Therefore, there was a combat skill)) Everything is quite edible, although someone may find it too spicy. If you have concerns about the spiciness of the ordered dish, you need to ask the waiter to make the dish "No spicy" before ordering - without spices.
In general, there is no special Malaysian cuisine in Malaysia. The fact is that Malaysia is inhabited by a lot of nationalities and nationalities - Indians, Chinese, Vietnamese, actually Malays. And Malaysian cuisine has absorbed a lot of national cuisines of the respective peoples, so in the end it is very diverse. Most of what the locals eat is rice and a bunch of various variations to it: rice with chicken, rice with curry, rice with seafood, rice with vegetables, etc. I really liked how fried chicken is fried here: it turns out with a crispy crust, fried in spices, the taste is simply incomparable! I've never tasted better fried chicken anywhere.
The photo also shows a cake made of crumbly crispy dough, also very tasty. By the way, no bread! I saw bread only in stores, and it cost about 5 ringit - a little expensive! Bread is eaten very little here and it is successfully replaced by rice.
About the portions: they are huge! Compared to our modest "canteen" portions, here they impose "from the heart", trying to please the client to the maximum. On average, a serving size of rice is about 3-5 times the usual serving size that we are all used to in Russia. As a result, you can eat cheaply and tasty. So, in a cheap street cafe in a non-tourist area, a portion of rice with chicken in the photo above, plus a glass of coffee - will cost 7-10 ringit, no more.
For the sake of interest, we somehow went to have a bite to eat in a Vietnamese cafe. They ordered this:
Something like some donuts stuffed with small noodles. Liquid transparent sweet and sour sauce and a slice of green lime (it is customary to squeeze juice from it, dripping it onto a dish).
Seafood in Kuala Lumpur is extremely rare in ordinary cafes, most often at rather expensive prices. Therefore, acquaintance with seafood took place already on the island of Borneo, in the city of Kota Kinabalu. Arriving at the hotel and settling in, we decided to walk with a fellow traveler Irina around the city in order to study the situation and find a cafe with fresh inexpensive seafood.
Walking down the street, we saw a cafe. We went in - right after the entrance rises a whole wall of aquariums in which a variety of marine life swims: here are shrimps (regular, tiger, royal), lobsters, squids, lobsters, crabs, mussels, fish of all kinds! A girl came up, began to offer to cook any living creature to choose from. The choice fell on crabs, which were asked to be fried in spices. After waiting about 20 minutes, they brought a fragrant and beautiful dish:
Metal tongs were attached to the dish. Since Vyatsky Lapot is not particularly strong in eating crabs, or rather, he has never eaten, Google was opened on the phone at the same second and the request “how to eat a crab” was entered)) Here it turned out that with metal tongs you need to split the shell with claws and extract white crab meat from there. Yummy! But for a long time ... While we sat and poked around in crabs, at least an hour passed. This is a very leisurely and concentrated matter)) The mountain of cleanings, consisting of fragments and parts of chitinous shells, grew. Finally, the crabs were finished, the bill was ordered. It came out to about 100 ringit for two - not cheap!! But he tried the crab and learned to eat. Now in an elite restaurant I won’t fall into the dirt on my face when served))
By the way, leaving the restaurant and walking for another ten minutes along the adjacent streets, a fish market was discovered nearby, near which the same crabs and other seafood were offered on the grill - at a price three times less than we had already had a bite ...
On the islands of the Tunku archipelago, Abdul Rahman once had a bite to eat - and unsuccessfully. I took this dish:
Rice with mushrooms and vegetables. Fellow traveler Irina took something similar, but without rice:
Didn't like it at all! It seemed that the liquid part of the dish had some strange taste and smell, I don’t even know what to compare it with. It reminds me a little, sorry, of sewerage... What kind of mushrooms were there, the big question is. I pecked the rice a little, drank lemon juice with ice and papaya juice - that's delicious. But there is not much and I wanted to in such heat. Irina ate her portion easily. Well, "the taste and color", as they say ... I no longer risked ordering anything from food on the islands. However, we were not there for too long to really get hungry - daily from 10-11 am to 3-4 pm, so we managed with ice cream or drinks, and had dinner already in Kota Kinabalu in Borneo.
Pork is almost nowhere to be found in Malaysia - the country is Muslim. In Sandakan I ordered myself meat soup(beef), and on the second - fried chicken. The soup was very good, spicy and tasty:
Interestingly, on the table in Malaysia, you can often see several bubbles as a seasoning: they contain various liquids that enhance the taste and aroma of the dish. So, 3 vials were attached to the above soup: one contained vinegar and salt, the other contained some garlic water, and the third contained soy sauce. By adding liquids to the soup in various proportions, indeed, it was possible to give the dish some additional flavor and spiciness.
Acquaintance with seafood was not limited to eating crabs in a restaurant in Kota Kinabalu. Having learned the taste of fragrant crab with spices, the Vyatka bast shoe did not calm down, and on one of the days of his vacation in Borneo he ordered more seafood from another street cafe in Kota Kinabalu: shrimp fried in coconut flakes! This is truly a masterpiece. They just melt in your mouth!
This magnificent dish was accompanied by a spicy and spicy brown seasoning sauce, and a few small green limes for juicing. Naturally, from butchering shrimp with your hands, all fingers then need to be washed from the remnants of food. For these purposes, in the cafe on each table there is a plastic jug of water and a container for dirty water:
Not limited to shrimp, fried squids were ordered. They lay fresh right there, on the counter at the entrance to the cafe. You say how much you need, and they are cooked right there within 10-15 minutes. The freshest and most delicious food! The taste is truly incredible. From their immoderate absorption in large quantities, only the presence of a huge amount of pepper stopped. In some places, even pieces of fiery chili pepper came across. This dish seemed really spicy to me, even for me. But that doesn't make it any less delicious.
As for alcohol in Malaysia. As I mentioned earlier, Malaysia is a Muslim country. Therefore, alcohol is simply not sold anywhere. Well, almost nowhere. I saw beer on sale quite often, both canned and bottled. Strong alcohol is sold only in large cities in large stores where there are many tourists. They consume it mostly)) I didn’t look at the prices - since I haven’t been using it myself for many years, and this question somehow didn’t arouse interest.
I saw cigarettes for sale - exactly the same as ours: Marlboro, Winston, Bond, Chesterfield. The packaging is exactly the same, but the inscriptions are made in Malaysian. There are also scary pictures designed to discourage smoking. Moreover, they are larger than on packs of cigarettes in Russia. Prices are about two times higher than Russian ones. I bought a Malaysian Winston for 17 ringit for the sake of experiment. The taste is the same as that of the one produced in Russia, no differences ... By the way, smoking is also allowed in cafes and restaurants - almost everywhere there are ashtrays on the tables, there are no restrictions. Smoking is prohibited only in those places where there is a prohibition sign (usually at government agencies).
It is worth noting cheap soda on sale - 0.33 l. a jar of Pepsi or Cola costs in different places from 1 to 5 ringgits, on average about 3. Somehow an interesting can of soda with a picture of corn caught my eye. Started watching - corn soda! Very, by the way, amusing taste)) And quenches thirst. Moreover, the drink itself is almost like milk, white. In general, Asians are much more inventive in experimenting with different tastes. What is, for example, Orbit or Dirol chewing gum with cucumber flavor (!). Unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn't. But experienced tourists say that it is for sale.
I had a chance to try various marvelous tropical fruits. Unfortunately, for some reason I didn’t take a picture of them, so I’ll attach a photo brazenly taken from the Internet)) Here, for example, is a cream apple. An irregularly shaped green fruit, about the size of a fist or more. Inside - soft sweet and sour pulp and black hard bones. Bones, as it turned out later, are poisonous! But I didn't eat them, I spit them out right away. The flesh is somewhat reminiscent of pineapple. I liked it very much.
Many people probably know the taste of this fruit, the mango flavor is actively used in the food industry:
Papaya has an interesting taste. It is somewhat reminiscent of a watermelon, but the consistency of the fruit is denser, similar in color to a carrot. The core with seeds is thrown away, the rest is cut into slices and eaten:
I saw a large, large greenish orange for sale. It turned out that this is not an orange, but a fruit called pomelo. Also from the citrus family, but it seemed very watery to me:
And of course, how not to mention the durian! I don’t know why it was called the “king of fruits”, but its smell, to put it mildly, is specific. Depending on the variety, growing area and degree of ripeness, it can have different shades: someone says that it smells like dirty sweaty socks, someone says that the fruit has a delicate “aroma” of a garbage can ... I did not catch the listed “flavors” but the smell is really sharp and unpleasant. I don't even know how to describe. With all this, the pulp has a very sweet taste and delicate texture, but the smell spoils everything. I was able to overcome myself only by a small piece the size of a full dot)) The disgusting aftertaste kept in my mouth for a couple of hours and sometimes rose from somewhere in the depths of the stomach)) In a word, for an amateur. The smell of durian is so strong that it is sold in separate stalls on the street, a few meters from other outlets. It is strictly forbidden to bring it to hotels and airplanes!
In contact with
During your stay in different countries we were convinced that there is no tastier and more varied food than in Thailand. And I mean now I don’t go to cafes and restaurants, but products from the supermarket, which we usually buy every day to cook at home.
Products in Malaysia
Products in Malaysia: cost and quality
- Course 1$=4RM
- Prices have not changed as of
- Article relevant for Penang and Kuala Lumpur
Once in a gastronomic paradise called, and this is how most traveling people announced it, we just went crazy with the choice, the quality and deliciousness of the local products. And if travelers praise restaurants for the most part, then we noticed it in the products from the supermarket.
Being a month away last time, we did not go even once to the city of Kuah to a large supermarket, but spent all the time on the coast, where there is still not a single large store, except for duty free. For this reason, at that time we did not even know what was sold in Malaysian stores and at what prices local residents buy food. In Penang, we got to the very best in Malaysia.
I can't believe I'm saying this now, but in Malaysia, food prices are cheaper and the choice is more varied than in Thailand.
Here, even 5 years is not enough to try everything that our eyes caught fire. The assortment offered by the Tesco supermarket is very different from the Thai Tesco products. In addition to Tesco, there are three other large supermarkets in Penang. We go to Cold Storage most of the time.
Large supermarkets in Malaysia, where everything is
(open Google maps and search for the nearest one by name)
- Tesco
- cold storage
- Isetan
- village grocer
- Sams Groceria
- The most budgetary: Giant, Mydin
Prices in Malaysia for products practically do not differ in most stores and hardly change over the years. Maybe, perhaps, a little and for some products. But not so much that you can't afford to buy it.
Went to the store
Product prices
Potato. We got used to a year in Thailand, and then in Vietnam, that potatoes in Asia are expensive. But what a surprise it was when we saw potatoes for 1.9 ringit ($0.5) per kilogram. That's the price of potatoes from Bangladesh to Tesco. It tastes nothing like ours. There are also Australian potatoes for sale and some other imported ones, they are already expensive at 5-7 ringit. So, for cheap potatoes, go to Tesco.
Buying Bangladeshi potatoes at Tesco
Imagine how happy it was to see 10 varieties of one rustic potatoes and more french fries. And our favorite Hash Browns, or, in our opinion, potato pancakes, which are sold only in the morning at McDonald's, in Penang you can buy in many supermarkets in any quantity and at any time of the day to cook yourself.
Hash Browns - 10RM ($2.5) for a pack of 10 pieces
Kashi. We love porridge. I am a fan of buckwheat, Slava oatmeal. They are inexpensive. In Vietnam, oatmeal was worth its weight in gold; in Thailand, prices are average. And here a 1kg pack of porridge costs from 10RM ($2.5). This pack is enough for 3 weeks. The first time we bought oatmeal flavored with banana and honey. This porridge really tasted like honey and banana! Usually such cereals are sold with tempting pictures, which show chopped fruits or berries, but in fact, inside is the most ordinary porridge. In Malaysia, the picture matches reality. Naturally, there are no bananas in porridge, but you feel the taste to the fullest.
Corn flakes 5RM ($1.25), oatmeal 10RM per 1 kg ($2.5)
What about hash browns and oatmeal ... In Penang, where there are practically no Russians, buckwheat is freely sold and at such a price that you can eat it at least every day.
Buckwheat in Malaysia costs 7.7RM for a pack of 500 gr ($2)
Milk. In Asia, dairy products are expensive. And here Malaysia is no different from other countries. Milk is sold in two types - in the refrigerator and what is without a refrigerator with a long shelf life. The second type of milk is cheaper.
Milk Marigold 6RM ($1.5)
Butter it is expensive, as elsewhere in Asia. An average of RM10 for a standard pack of 250g Anchor oil or something like that.
Oil Anchor ~10RM ($2.5)
Yoghurts. Most delicious yoghurts sold in Malaysia from all over Asia! Thick, with a rich taste and a variety of different flavors. They cost from 2 ringit ($0.5).
Yoghurts Marigold, Nestle for 2MR (0.5$)
Bread. On the shelves of supermarkets in Penang, you will not find any kind of bread! We have never had such delicious bread anywhere else. Somehow they bought bread, and it smelled so delicious that I still don’t understand how they managed to bake bread with the smell of vegetable lecho.
Bread in Malaysia costs from 2 ringit on average ($ 0.5)
Vegetables. Vegetables in Malaysia are not only just like from the picture, washed, shining and shimmering with purity, but also juicy, tasty, mouth-watering. Different types cabbage, lots of greens, cucumbers. There are more than 10 types of tomatoes alone.
Tomatoes cost about 4RM ($1) per 1 kg, onions 2RM ($0.5)
Fruit. Lots of fruit and everything seems to be of normal quality. Apples, as elsewhere in Asia, are expensive - from 2RM ($ 0.5) per 1 piece. Pineapples 3-4RM ($0.75-1). Mango on average 4 ringit per piece ($1). We especially liked bananas in Malaysia. In Vietnam, there were only small ones, but here they are big and tasty. At a Giant supermarket, a bunch of 5-7 bananas costs an average of RM5 ($1.25).
Bananas 5-7RM ($1.5-2), mangoes 4-5RM ($1-1.5) per piece, coconuts 3-4RM ($0.75-1)
Shrimps and fish. Ordinary fish costs an average of 3 to 9 ringit (0.75$ - 2.25$) per 1 kg. Red fish costs about 15 ringit per piece, as in the photo below. Also, delicacy fish Salmon Steak in packages is sold within 14-15 ringit. What I did not expect was such a cheap shrimp! Shrimp in Malaysia are medium in size and very inexpensive. A bag of the freshest and plump shrimp by weight costs about 8-9 ringit ($ 2-2.5). I have enough of such a package of shrimp for 4 times, 10-12 pieces approximately.
Red fish costs an average of 15RM for a pack like in the photo ($3.75)
Meat. There are rumors on the Internet that there are problems with meat in Malaysia. Well, I don't know, in Penang, meat is all right. But a fly in the ointment will still be. The meat may be out of date. We usually buy chicken. Of the 10 times that we took meat in Penang in different supermarkets, 5 times we received the missing chicken fillet. In the package it looks presentable, the deadlines are normal and in life you will not understand that as soon as you tear the film, a wild stench will go.
Chicken fillet 3-4RM ($1) per pack and bacon 12RM ($3)
Bacon is delicious. And also here you will have 50 more types of nuggets and 20 types of cutlets and meat balls. In general, what is there in Penang.
Indian food. Penang also prepared a pleasant surprise for fans of Indian cuisine. Since there are a huge number of Indians in Penang, almost a complete list of Indian products is sold for them in supermarkets. And I'm not only talking about 200 types of spices, but also roti, chapati, paratha, all kinds of samosa, chicken pies. It’s just that your eyes run wide, you want to have time to try everything. Indian food also costs a penny.
Indian Roti flatbreads cost an average of 4RM per pack ($1) 
Indian samosa with potatoes and curry
Tea coffee. Malaysia supplies itself with tea. Tea from, tea from the island, the state of Sabah, and another 50 pieces of various varieties. And everything is so packed that you want to try everything. I recently bought mint bags and add them to BOH black tea. It turns out a taste reminiscent of Ceylon tea from Sri Lanka.
Tea in Malaysia is cheap. Small BOH - 3 ringit ($0.75)
What was also not expected from Malaysia was a good choice coffee. It even sells coffee from Indonesia and Vietnam. But we won’t say anything about local coffee, since in Vietnam we bought half a year in advance)))
Sweets. Endless list. So many delicious chocolate, cookies, pastries, donuts, pies, cakes, cheesecakes, cupcakes. Malaysia has surpassed Tai in terms of tasty treats. Everything is fresh. It happens that you buy a pie, and it is even still hot. Just baked. And later we got hooked on Roti Boy buns. Heaven for the sweet tooth.
Beverages. Milo, juices, sodas, drinking yoghurts sold in Penang. But add to this Indian drinks like Lassi, milkshakes with mango and berries and a bunch of other interesting things.
Alcohol. Beer is expensive. A small jar of 0.33 from 6RM ($1.5), a large bottle of 0.6 costs 14-15RM ($3.5). Stronger drinks are not fabulous, but also a little more expensive. The cheapest wine can be bought for 45-50 ringit ($11-12) for a 0.7l bottle. Prices for stronger drinks did not look.
A bottle of Anchor or Carlsberg beer - 14RM ($3.5)
Ice cream. If in Thailand, after several attempts to find delicious ice cream, we realized that we were not ready to pay 100 baht for a small jar, then ice cream in Malaysia is in abundance and pleases our stomach regularly. And there are just no varieties. What is even more convenient, you can buy a box of ice cream, inside of which small ice creams are packaged. He wanted, pulled out and ate according to his mood. The choice is huge, even ice cream with local Teh tarik tea.
Malay Potong ice cream is reminiscent of the beach in Phuket
Conclusions on products in Malaysia
Looking at the Malays, who are all very well-fed, we laugh that if we had stayed in Penang for another two or three months, we would not have fit into any of our things. Now we understand why all the locals are so chubby!
Everything is delicious here like nowhere else. We don’t even have time to go to some cafe to taste dishes, because at home all the shelves and the refrigerator are full delicious food from the supermarket and we eat as much as we want! And we always want to eat
Nasi goreng is the national Malay dish.
But we still tried something from Malay cuisine when we went to. For example, fried rice with chicken (Nasi - rice, Goreng - fried, Auma - chicken). Yummy! But while we are leaning more on a variety of products from supermarkets, restaurants cannot really be reached.
Our fridge
We decided that when we find ourselves somewhere on the islands far from civilization, then we will try Malay cuisine. In the meantime, there is a kitchen and large supermarkets nearby, let's try as many products from Malaysia as possible
PS: We spent 1061RM on groceries in a month in Penang. It's $265 or 9,000 baht. It turns out even a little less than in Thailand.
Those who call themselves gourmets should definitely try (and maybe even fall in love with) Malaysian cuisine. It is impossible to forget the aromas of local dishes, not so much because of the spices present in them, but because of the passion of people who cook national dishes with such pleasure.
Malaysians are really lucky. Thanks to a multinational society, their cuisine shows the influence of almost all cuisines of the world: Chinese, Indian ... You can simply name any nationality and there will definitely be a dish, one way or another, connected with it. Some of the cooking methods may seem a little rough, some of the dishes should have used less spices, but each of them is wonderful in its own way. It was incredibly difficult to select only 10 dishes, Malaysian cuisine is so diverse that even 20 points would not be enough. However, here is a list of 10 Malaysian dishes that will definitely not leave you indifferent.
banana leaves
Chettinad, being one of the largest South Indian cuisines, originated in the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu in South India. If you like rice, then you will definitely like this rice wrapped in banana leaves.
Rice is served on a banana leaf along with vegetables, meat or fish curries, pickled cucumbers or the instantly addictive papadama (looks like giant flat chips). But in most cases, only curry sauce without meat is served, as this dish is considered vegetarian. If you are not a vegetarian, you can try lamb rendang and curried chicken with rice.
Eating this dish can be a bit of a hassle as it is eaten with the hands, but most tourists take it as just part of the tradition.
Nasi Dagang
No traditional Malaysian meal is complete without this dish.
Nasi Dagang is fantastic tasty dish, consisting of rice steamed in coconut milk, fish curry and other ingredients such as shelled roasted coconut, fret salt, hard boiled eggs and pickles.
On the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, in states such as Terengganu and Kelatan, this dish is served for breakfast. The most famous Nasu Dagang appeared in a place called Kampung Ladang, which is located in the Kuala Terengganu region. Everyone who has tried it in this place says that it really is the most delicious of all.
Bakutte
Literally, the name translates as "tea brewed on meat bones." For its preparation pork ribs, covered with fat, simmer in a broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, angelica, dill seeds and garlic). Bakutte is boiled for as long as possible, if possible, for days. In addition to the main components, offal, various types of mushrooms, Chinese cabbage and tofu can also be added.
An excellent bakutte is made at the Yik See Ho restaurant. It is located near the Pudu Vet market and is very popular among the local elite.
Where else can you see a butcher chopping up a pig carcass on the corner for tomorrow's menu, a meter and a half away, eating local delicacies? Well, that's Pudu's lifestyle.
Hokkien Mee
Fried hokkien mee (akin to Chinese fried yellow noodles) is wildly popular in China. The dish is a wide yellow noodles stewed in thick soy sauce with pork, squid, fish cake and cabbage as main ingredients and finely diced crispy fried lard as garnish. They say that lard is the main component.
This dish is eaten before a party for the whole night, after a night party, for lunch, for dinner ... in general, it is eaten at any time of the day. Want to experience the real Malaysia? Then be sure to try Hokkien Me.
Sanghar noodles
Fresh river prawns cooked in Cantonese style in a thick egg broth are served with thin or egg noodles. Shrimp caviar gets into the egg broth and gives the noodles a phenomenal taste. It's amazing how well firm shrimp pairs with stretchy thin noodles to create an incredible dish. They seemed to be made for each other.
sate
After san har mi, you should definitely try sentul sate. The analogues of this dish can be called Japanese yakitori, turkish kebab, South African soseti or Chinese chuan.
Barbecuing meat is simple, but the process is still fascinating. There is a childish feeling of delight, because you eat meat cooked with your own hands. A must-have ingredient for cooking, thanks to which the dish acquires a yellow color - turmeric.
Served with sate with spicy peanut sauce or peanut sauce, sliced onions and cucumbers, and ketupat (a briquette of rice cooked in a dense braid of palm or, less commonly, banana leaf). And here in front of you is a dish that is as tasty as fast food, but unlike it, sate has an excellent composition and a balanced combination of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
Nasi kandar
If you love rice, then don't miss the opportunity to try this local dish.
Nasi kandar is a popular dish in northern Malaysia, originally from Penang. It is steamed rice, sometimes lightly seasoned, served with various types curry and side dishes. Rice served with fried chicken, gizzards, lamb curry, diced beef, fish caviar, fried shrimp or fried squid. Eggplant, okra, or bitter gourd are commonly served as vegetables.
Rice is drizzled with a mixture of curry sauces. When you order a dish, be sure to ask to pour the rice with a mixture of curry sauces: fish + chicken + dal. Wait a moment, let the sauce soak into the rice. It will give the rice an indescribable aroma and taste. This type of nasi is called "banjir", that is, "flooded" rice. Many people eat this dish with their hands and the flavor of the sauce remains even after they are washed. And this is considered one of the advantages of this dish.
Char siu rice
Char siu (barbecue pork) is another dish to try while in Malaysia. Long fat chunks pork meat without bones, they are strung on skewers and fried either in a closed oven or over a fire. Meat, usually chosen shoulder area, seasoned with honey, a mixture of 5 spices, fermented (also called stinky) tofu, poured with dark soy sauce, sometimes with the addition of chili, vinegar, garlic. The melted sugar and seasoning give the meat a reddish color.
Instead of honey, only sugar can be used, then the meat acquires a characteristic sheen. Char siu is cooked in the most amazing way. The meat turns out so juicy and soft, and the caramel crust is so sweet that even an adult man cannot resist and sheds a mean man's tear, admiring the taste of this dish.
Fresh river shrimp from Tanjung Tualang
Lung Seng Tajung Tualang, Perak state, northern. At least once in a lifetime, but everyone should make a pilgrimage to the mecca of fresh river shrimp and all kinds of crustaceans. Many from Kuala Lumpur often make the two-hour drive to Tajung Tualang in Perak just to sample fresh freshwater shrimp.
The shrimp here are the freshest (they just float in tanks outside). The cook drops them in ice water for five minutes to numb them before cooking. Thanks to this, the meat retains its elastic structure and flavor.
River shrimp in oil...yummy!
Nasi lemak
This dish is definitely not to be missed. The name translates as "rice in cream." During the cooking process, the rice is soaked in coconut cream and then steamed. With this method of cooking, the rice retains the delicious aroma of coconut cream. It is then wrapped in a banana leaf and served along with one of the aforementioned dishes. Sometimes the rice is wrapped in a pandan leaf, ginger leaf, or lemongrass stem to make it more flavorful.
Malaysian nasi lemak is made with hot spicy sauce (sambal), hard-boiled eggs, cucumber slices, small dried anchovies (ikan bilis) and roasted peanuts. To all this, you can add cuttlefish in sambal sauce, clams, fried water spinach (kangkong), pickled vegetables (achar) or rendang beef (beef stewed in coconut milk and spices).
Malaysian cuisine is delicious to the point of insanity, but slightly unhealthy. However, at least once in a lifetime, but it should be tried.
With the highest towers in the world and mountain resorts. In a state where Hindus and Chinese have lived side by side with the Malays for centuries, there is absolutely no racial and religious prejudice.
Fans of trekking and mountaineering, lovers of wildlife and exotics, divers come to visit. Here you can relax on clean beaches and swim in the clear sea. In the country you can buy amazing products made of batik, things made of tin and wood of high quality and low prices. And also get acquainted with the interesting cuisine of this country, which has absorbed the traditions of all the peoples inhabiting it. What can you try in Malaysia?
Food in Malaysia
The gastronomic diversity of Malaysia is due to its history and geography. Indian dishes use all kinds of herbs and spices. Chinese cuisine is more neutral, but the dishes are more difficult to prepare. Port cities received ships from the Middle East. Merchants brought not only goods, but also recipes from overseas chefs. The colonialists also contributed to the local cuisine, as did neighboring countries -,. All culinary borrowings influenced traditional recipes and at the same time they themselves changed, acquired an independent life. This multinational recipe fusion is called the cuisine of Malaysia.
General Product, which unites all the trends and directions of Malay cuisine - rice, in Malay, nasi. It is steamed, fried with vegetables and spices, boiled in coconut milk, and even used in fruit desserts. In the name of almost every dish, the word "naxi" is found, emphasizing the importance of rice for the inhabitants of the country. Rice is followed by noodles Chinese food, Indian curry and seafood.
Top 10 Malay Dishes
Krupuk and other street food
A popular snack made from plain flour and dried seafood flour. It turns out chips that can be eaten with other dishes as bread or as a snack with different sauces. Often used as street food. In Southeast Asia, stalls with such food are part of the landscape. Most often, food is prepared and immediately sold here. In such bakeries you can still try baked or fried pies from puff pastry. The fillings are different: beef, chicken, vegetables, the common main component is curry.
Pisang goreng is another food that can be found in street stalls and is worth a try. These are deep-fried bananas, sometimes in batter.
Rojak
An eclectic dish. In Penang, this salad combines cucumber, pineapple, turnip, guava, mango and apple. All this is poured with sauce, which consists of lime juice, shrimp paste and crushed peanuts. It is often served with shrimp pancakes. In the rest of Malaysia, the rojak consists of boiled potatoes and eggs fried shrimp or other seafood. Fried tofu, turnips and soy sprouts are added to it. Somewhere it is called mamak rojak, somewhere pasembur.
From other salads, gado gado is interesting, vegetable salad with bamboo shoots and soybean sprouts. It is seasoned with a mixture of peanut sauce, coconut milk and hot pepper.
Soup, a representative of Peranakan cuisine. In many variations of this dish, noodles remain the same component - thick wheat, rice, egg, and even a semblance of spaghetti. Everyone has an unusual taste, so choosing what to try is difficult. For reference:
Asam laksa is made from fish with pineapple and other local fruits, grated cucumber and tamarind fruit paste, a tropical legume. And with the obligatory noodles.
Curry laksa also consists of noodles, fish, as well as shrimp, tofu, soy sprouts, curry and coconut milk. In some regions of Malaysia, chicken and eggs are added to this soup instead of shrimp.
Nasi Dagang
A traditional Malaysian lunch dish, although served for breakfast on the East Coast. Rice is steamed in coconut milk, fish curry, pickled cucumbers, peeled fried coconut, boiled eggs are added to it. The combination is unusual, but the food is appetizing and light, worth a try. Gourmets believe that Nasi dagang should be eaten where it was invented - in the state. They say that the taste of the dish there is simply fantastic.
It is interesting to taste Nasi lemak. In this dish, rice steamed in coconut milk is combined with anchovies and roasted peanuts. Boiled eggs and cucumbers are also added to it.
The basis of this dish is also rice, this time fried, which follows from the name - goreng. There are as many varieties as Malaysian chefs can imagine. The dish is borrowed from neighboring Indonesia, where it is considered a culinary symbol. In addition to the obligatory set of spices, meat is added there, in pieces or in the form of meatballs, shrimp and other seafood, fish, sometimes salted. There are also many options for adding eggs to Nasi Goreng: chopped hard-boiled eggs, in the form of an omelet, cut into pieces, often just scrambled eggs are added during the cooking process. Classic variant dishes are prepared with chicken.
Nasi Kandar
Originally from where it began to be cooked in the Tamil community. A hundred years ago, it was considered street food. Merchants carried two wicker baskets on a kind of yoke. One was steamed rice, the other was curry. Since the Tamils are Muslims, curries were not made with pork. And without that, the choice is sufficient: fish, chicken, lamb, beef. The similarity of the yoke, which was used by the food sellers, is called kandar. The dish has long moved to restaurants, in extreme cases, to food courts. But its name remained: Nasi-kandar.
A similar dish called biryani came from India to Malaysian cuisine. Looks like a swim. Rice and meat - lamb, chicken, fish, are cooked separately. Everything is flavored with spices.
But rice with chicken according to Chinese recipes takes a long time to cook, like all dishes of this cuisine. A whole chicken is simmered in pork broth, and rice in chicken broth, all done over low heat. In finished form, it is just rice with chicken pieces, but everything is so fragrant that you must try it. The dish is called chicken rice.
Chilly crab
In restaurants and Malaysia, almost the most popular dish. Large mango crabs are fried in a salty and sweet chili tomato sauce. A real delicacy worth trying.
Of the seafood delicacies, the fish head in curry is also interesting. Can be tasted in Peranakan and Chinese restaurants. According to the history of the dish, it was invented by an Indian chef for the Chinese. The head of the red sea bass is stewed in coconut milk with curry, eggplant and tamarind sauce.
The topic of fish cannot be avoided without Ikan Bakar, translated as “burnt fish”. Marinated in soy sauce mixture, coconut oil and spices fish are fried on coals. Ingoda in banana leaves, sometimes open. The analogue, Ikan goreng, is deep-fried. It turns out a delicious crispy crust.
This yellow egg noodles along with numerous methods of its preparation, immigrants from the Chinese province of Fujian brought. In metropolitan restaurants, it is fried with black soy sauce, to which pork and crispy cracklings are added. And in Penang, noodles are cooked like soup, with shrimp, boiled egg and soy sprouts.
Fried noodles with garlic, onions, Chinese cabbage and tomatoes are called mi goreng. Add your choice of shrimp, chicken, pork or beef. The Indian version is called maggi goreng: almost the same composition, vegetables are excluded and tofu is added.
rendang
It is a must to try. A few years ago, opinion poll and blogging site cnngo.com voted for the most delicious dish in the world. Rendang became the first, bypassing all recognized world delicacies. This dish also made its way into Malay cuisine from Indonesia, where it was also one of the the best dishes nation.
Beef, sometimes lamb, in pieces, languishes in coconut milk with spices for a very long time until the liquid evaporates. The taste is unique. For such fine dining an equivalent garnish is required. Classic - lemang. Also a long-term food: rice with coconut milk is baked inside bamboo sticks for at least 4-5 hours.
Malay pancakes are also called roti jala. They are used instead of bread, then the pancake looks like a simple tortilla, often with sauce. As a dessert, pancakes are made with filling. And here is a real gastronomic variety: roti chanai yam - with chicken, roti chanai banana - with banana, roti chanai cheese - with cheese. And also with vegetables and fruits, the name changes accordingly.
Separately, it is worth mentioning murtabak pancakes, a variety of roti chanai yam. They are layered, with a very juicy chicken and vegetable filling.
