In Malaysia, there live people of a great variety of race, religion, culture and tradition. The Malays, who are predominantly Moslem, form the largest racial group. They are followed by the Chinese who are traditionally Buddhists. The third largest race in Malaysia is the Indians. Besides these three main ethnic groups, there are at least another 50 different minority races found in Malaysia. Each race has its own distinctive food and tastes. The result is a country rich in different types of food. No matter what your penchant, you will find the type of food you love in Malaysia.

Here are some of the unique types of food you will find in this fascinating country:

Assam Laksa – noodles cooked in spicy soup with a touch of sour-tasting dried tamarind slices. This dish also contains vegetables and fish.

Assam Fish – fish steamed with a special sour-tasting soup. It’s a favourite among Indians and Chinese.

Bak Kut Teh – a favourite among the Chinese. This is a dish where steamed white rice is eaten with herbal soup, pork and vegetables.

Bryani Rice (or Nasi Bryani) – special colored rice cooked with cashew nuts, raisins and pineapple cubes and eaten with a host of different accompanying dishes.

Delicious Bryani Rice in Malaysia

Banana Leaf Curry – an Indian specialty. Steamed white rice is served on a large banana tree leaf or normal plates. It comes with a whole array of curry dishes of fish, chicken and beans cooked Indian style. One unique accompanying dish is Papadam, which is Indian crackers, light and crispy. Simply delicious!

Banana leaf curry rice on plates!

Curry Laksa – noodles cooked in curry and mixed with shreds of chicken meat, eggs and vegetables.

Curry Fish Head – the head of the fish is cooked in curry. All the flesh is eaten including the eyes of the fish!

Ketupat – this is not a main dish. It is usually eaten with Satay (see below). Ketupat is glutinous rice packed together into small cube shapes and wrapped in banana or coconut tree leaves.

Ketupat with sweat and sour meat in Malaysia

Lemang – a special side dish where glutinous rice is put into hollow bamboo stems and smoked over an open fire. This food is unique to the Malays.

Murtabak – a value-added form of Roti Chanai (see below) where generous portions of beef or chicken are added.

Murtabak, a delicious Indian dish found in Malaysia

Nasi Lemak – steamed white rice cooked in coconut milk. This dish comes with hard boiled eggs, fried anchovies, cucumber and either deep fried chicken or beef in Rendang gravy or curry.

Nasi Lemak with cucumber, peanuts, hard boiled egg, anchovies and curry chicken

Nasi Campur – mixed rice i.e. rice with an assortment of accompanying meat and vegetables.

Nasi Goreng – fried rice

Nasi Pataya - fried rice wrapped in an omelet.  Uniquely done!

Nasi Pataya…how do they wrap the rice into the omelet?

Ngau Chap Noodles – noodles in beef stew with beef balls and beef inward parts (like intestines, liver etc).

Popiah – a delightful vegetable side dish. Different types of vegetables like bean sprouts, bean curd, turnip, small shrimp, strips of cucumber etc are rolled into a flour batter in a small cylindrical shape. Popiah can either be eaten raw or deep fried.

Cute Little Popiah!

Rojak – a very popular Malay fruit and vegetable side dish. Fruits and vegetables such as pineapples, pumpkin, cucumber, kangkong (a local vegetable) etc are cut into bite-sized pieces and mixed with prawn paste and covered in pounded peanuts

Roti Chanai – famous dish of the Indian Muslims. Flour is mixed with water into dough and is spread thin by a unique flipping and flapping motion done with both hands. This flattened piece of dough is then grilled over a flat pan. It comes in different varieties such as Roti Telur (with egg), Roti Planta (with margarine or butter), Roti Sardin (with sardines), Roti Pisang (with bananas), Roti Bom (in a conical shape) etc.

Roti Bom, a popular food dish in Malaysia

Roti Jala – a net-shaped variation of Roti Chanai

Soup – popular starter among the Chinese. The soup is usually vegetable soup with cabbage, beancurd, potatoes, carrots etc added in.

Beancurd and vegetable soup in Malaysia

Desserts – although not commonly eaten in the typical home meal in Malaysia, desserts are found in restaurant meals. These can come in a multitude of forms such as Sago Gula Melaka (sago seeds mixed with a special sweetener called Gula Melaka), Cendol (a unique blend of iced corn, peanuts, green colored flour-based strips etc and sweetened with syrup), Air Batu Kacang or ABC (ice shavings mixed with an assortment of beans and nuts, mixed with evaporated milk, ice cream and syrup), a wide variety of cakes and biscuits.

ABC, only in Malaysia

These are just some of the many authentic local food dishes you will find in Malaysia.  It’s interesting to learn about the different food dishes but it’s also imperative to be aware of the eating habits and norms of the country.  You wouldn’t want to offend anyone, I’m sure.