With the world's tallest towers and mountain resorts. In a state where Indians and Chinese have lived alongside the Malays for centuries, there is absolutely no racial or religious prejudice.

Fans of trekking and mountaineering, lovers of wildlife and exotics, divers. Here you can relax on clean beaches and swim in the clear sea. In the country you can buy amazing batik products, things made of tin and wood High Quality and low price. And also get to know interesting cuisine this country, which has absorbed the traditions of all the peoples inhabiting it. What can you try in Malaysia?

Food in Malaysia

Malaysia's gastronomic diversity is due to its history and geography. IN Indian dishes All kinds of herbs and spices are used. Chinese cuisine is more neutral, but the dishes are more difficult to prepare. Port cities received ships from the Middle East. Traders 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 changed themselves and took on an independent life. This multinational recipe fusion is called Malaysian cuisine.

General Product, uniting all trends and directions of Malay cuisine - rice, Malay style, nasi. It is steamed, fried with vegetables and spices, boiled in coconut milk, and even used in fruit desserts. The name of almost every dish contains the word “nasi”, emphasizing the importance of rice for the people of the country. Following the rice are noodles from Chinese cuisine, Indian curry and seafood.

Top 10 Malay dishes

Krupuk and other street food

Popular snack from regular flour and dried seafood flour. The result is 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, trays of such food are part of the landscape. Most often, food is prepared here and sold immediately. In such bakeries you can also 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 dish that can be found in street stalls and is worth trying. These are bananas, deep fried, sometimes in batter.

Rojak

An eclectic dish. In Penang, this salad combines cucumbers, pineapple, turnips, guava, mango and apples. The whole thing is topped with a sauce that consists of lime juice, shrimp paste and crushed peanuts. It is often served with shrimp fritters. In the rest of Malaysia, rojak consists of boiled potatoes and eggs, fried shrimp or other seafood. It is topped with fried tofu, turnips and soy sprouts. Somewhere it is called mamak rojak, somewhere pasembur.

Among 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, representative of Peranakan cooking. In many variants of this dish, the constant component remains noodles - thick wheat, rice, egg and even something like spaghetti. Everyone has a different taste, so choosing what to try is difficult. For reference:
Asam laksa is prepared from fish with pineapple and other local fruits, grated cucumber and tamarind fruit paste, a tropical legume fruit. And with the obligatory noodles.

Laksa curry 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, and 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 try 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.

This dish is also based on rice, this time fried, as the name suggests - 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 omelette, cut into pieces, often simply mixed in with scrambled eggs during the cooking process. Classic version dishes are prepared with chicken.

Nasi Kandar

Originally from , where it began to be prepared in the Tamil community. A hundred years ago it was considered street food. Traders carried two wicker baskets on a kind of yoke. One contained steamed rice, the other curry. Since Tamils ​​are Muslims, curry was not made from pork. There is already enough choice: fish, chicken, lamb, beef. The type of rocker used by food sellers is called a kandar. The dish has long moved to restaurants, or at least to food courts. But its name remains: Nasi-kandar.

A similar dish, biryani, came from India to Malaysian cuisine. Looks like pilaf. Rice and meat - lamb, chicken, fish - are prepared separately. Everything is flavored with spices.

But rice with chicken Chinese recipes It takes a long time to prepare, like all dishes of this cuisine. A whole chicken is boiled in pork broth, and rice is in chicken, everything is done over low heat. IN finished form It's just rice with pieces of chicken, but everything is so flavorful that you have to try it. The dish is called chicken rice.

Chilli crab

It is almost the most popular dish in restaurants in Malaysia. Large mango crabs are fried in a sweet and salty chili tomato sauce. A real delicacy, worth trying.

Also interesting from seafood delicacies fish head in curry. Can be enjoyed in Peranakan and Chinese restaurants. According to the history of the dish, it was invented by an Indian cook for the Chinese. Red sea bass head is stewed in coconut milk with curry, eggplant and tamarind sauce.

The theme of fish cannot be avoided without Ikan Bakar, translated as “burnt fish”. Marinated in soy sauce mixture, coconut oil and spices, the fish is fried on coals. Ingoda in banana leaves, sometimes open. Its analogue, Ikan goreng, is deep fried. The result is a delicious crispy crust.

These yellow egg noodles, along with numerous methods for preparing them, were brought by immigrants from the Chinese province of Fujian. In the capital's restaurants, it is fried with black soy sauce, to which pork and crispy cracklings are added. And in Penang they cook noodles like soup, with shrimp, boiled egg and soybean sprouts.

Stir-fried noodles with garlic, onion, bok choy and tomatoes are called Mee Goreng. You can 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

You should definitely try it. A few years ago, the opinion polling and blogging site cnngo.com held a vote on the most delicious dish in the world. Rendang became the first, beating all recognized world delicacies. This dish also came into Malay cuisine from Indonesia, where it was also among the best dishes of the nation.

Beef, sometimes lamb, in pieces, is simmered in coconut milk with spices for a very long time until the liquid evaporates. The taste is unique. For such gourmet dish an equivalent side dish is required. Classic - lemang. Also food long cooking: 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 flatbread, often with sauce. As a dessert, pancakes are made with filling. And here there is real gastronomic diversity: roti canai yam - with chicken, roti canai banana - with banana, roti canai cheese - with cheese. And also with vegetables and fruits, the name changes accordingly.

Special mention should be made of murtabak pancakes, a type of roti canai yam. They are layered, with very juicy filling chicken with vegetables.

To be honest, even when 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, full of spices and herbs, and not everyone will like it.

In this regard, we took with us: capsules for heartburn “Omeprazole”, tablets “No-shpa” to eliminate abdominal pain, tablets “Loperamide” for diarrhea (in Russian, sorry, for diarrhea). Well, just in case – good old activated carbon tablets.

I’ll say right away that I didn’t have to use a single drug! During the entire ten days of my stay abroad, my body accepted spicy Asian food very warmly. And what’s most remarkable is that I quite liked it!

I was very interested in an interesting message in the daily world news summary: two or three weeks before the trip, news flashed that Australia had sent two shipping 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, we decided not to bother too much with this matter - we dug a huge hole in Borneo and quietly threw all the rejected products there, throwing sand on top. It would seem that the job is done. But it was not there! Some Malaysian saw this action and was horrified - “this is so much good that is dying!” I dug it up and brought home a full bag of almost fresh chicken legs! " Word of mouth“works with lightning speed: within a day the hole was dug by cunning local residents, who immediately rinsed the legs in water to remove sand, and floated them to Malaysian markets. A day later, all the markets were flooded with cheap chicken at 7-8 ringit per kilo)) Therefore, seeing chicken on the menu, I examined the dish especially meticulously before eating))

So, having arrived in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, I first encountered Asian food at the ABC street cafe near our Nu Hotel@KL Sentral. After looking through the menu, I ordered some strange noodles with slices of cucumber and a boiled egg. All this was generously flavored with spicy brown sauce. There were also pieces of some vegetables in the dish that I could not identify (orange in the photo). But the taste is quite normal!

Then, based on the photos presented on the menu, I ordered a super dish! is a huge thin pancake, rolled into a cone, placed on a plate and sprinkled with sugar. The dough is very hard and crumbly, and crumbles with a crunch when touched. It seems like it’s a lot, but in reality it’s not, there’s just emptiness inside)) Delicious!

I took it from the drinks iced 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 drizzled with chocolate syrup:

This is how I became acquainted with Asian food. The first dish was spicy, but the fact is that I am already a lover of spices - pepper, garlic, etc. Therefore, there was combat skill)) Everything is quite edible, although some may find it too spicy. If you have concerns about the spiciness of the ordered dish, you need to ask the waiter before ordering to make the dish “No spicy” - 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, and Malays themselves. And the cuisine of Malaysia has absorbed much of the national cuisines of the respective peoples, so in the end it is very diverse. Mostly what the locals eat is rice and a bunch of various variations with it: rice with chicken, rice with curry, rice with seafood, rice with vegetables, etc. I really liked how they fried chicken here: it comes out with a crispy crust, fried in spices, the taste is simply incomparable! Haven't tried it anywhere fried chicken tastier:

The photo also shows a flatbread made from crumbly crispy dough, also very tasty. By the way, there is no bread! I saw the bread only in stores, and it cost about 5 ringit - a little expensive! They eat very little bread here and rice successfully replaces it.

About the portions: they are huge! Compared to our modest “canteen” portions, here they serve “from the heart”, trying to please the client to the maximum. On average, the serving size of rice is about 3-5 times larger than 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.

Just out of curiosity, we went to a Vietnamese cafe for a bite to eat. We ordered this:

Somewhat reminiscent of some kind of donuts stuffed with small noodles. A liquid transparent sweet and sour sauce and a wedge of green lime were also included (it is customary to squeeze the juice out of it by dripping it onto the dish).

Seafood in Kuala Lumpur is extremely rare in ordinary cafes, most often at quite expensive prices. Therefore, the acquaintance with seafood took place already on the island of Borneo, in the city of Kota Kinabalu. Having arrived at the hotel and checked in, we decided to walk around the city with our travel companion Irina in order to explore the situation and find a cafe with fresh, inexpensive seafood.

Walking down the street, we saw a cafe. We went in and right after the entrance there is a whole wall of aquariums in which a variety of marine life swims: here are shrimps (regular, tiger, king), lobsters, squid, lobsters, crabs, mussels, fish of all kinds! A girl came up and began offering to cook any animal of her choice. 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:

The dish came with metal tweezers. Since Vyatsky Lapot is not particularly good at eating crabs, or rather, has never eaten, Google was opened on the phone at that very second and the query “how to eat crab”) was entered)) Then it turned out that with metal tongs you need to split the shell with claws and remove the white crab meat from there. Tasty! But for a long time... While we were sitting and picking at the crabs, at least an hour passed. This is a very leisurely and concentrated task)) The mountain of scraps, consisting of fragments and parts of chitinous shells, grew. Finally finished with the crabs, we ordered the bill. It came out to about 100 ringit for two – not cheap!! But he tried crab and learned to eat it. Now in an elite restaurant I won’t fall flat on my face when they serve it))

By the way, after 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 barbecues - at a price three times less than what we had already eaten...

On the islands of the Tunku archipelago, Abdul Rahman had a bite to eat once - and it was unsuccessful. I got myself 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 somewhat reminds me, sorry, of a sewer... What kind of mushrooms were there is a big question. I nibbled a little rice, drank lemon juice with ice and papaya juice - this is delicious. But I didn’t really want to eat in such heat. Irina finished her portion easily. Well, “taste and color,” as they say... I no longer risked ordering anything from food on the islands. However, we weren’t there long enough to have time to really get hungry - every day from 10-11 a.m. to 3-4 p.m., so we made do with ice cream or drinks, and had dinner in Kota Kinabalu on Borneo.

You can hardly find pork anywhere in Malaysia - the country is Muslim. I ordered myself in Sandakan meat soup(beef), and for 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 the soup described above came with 3 bottles: one contained vinegar and salt, the other some kind of garlic water, the third contained soy sauce. By adding liquid to the soup in various proportions, it was indeed possible to give the dish some additional flavor and spiciness.

Getting to know seafood was not limited to just eating crabs in a restaurant in Kota Kinabalu. Having experienced the taste of aromatic crab with spices, Vyatsky Lapot 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 delicious dish came with a tangy, fiery brown sauce and a few small green limes for squeezing the juice. Naturally, after cutting shrimp with your hands, all your fingers then need to be washed from food residues. For these purposes, the cafe has a plastic jug of water and a container for dirty water on each table:

Not limited to shrimp, fried squid was ordered. They're in fresh lay right there on the counter at the entrance to the cafe. You say how much you need, and they are prepared immediately within 10-15 minutes. Freshest and delicious food! The taste is truly incredible. Their excessive absorption in huge quantities was stopped only by the presence huge amount pepper Here and there there were even pieces of fiery chili pepper. This dish seemed really spicy to me, even for me. But this makes it no less tasty:

Regarding 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 mostly consume it)) I didn’t look at the prices - since I haven’t used it myself for many years, and this question somehow didn’t arouse any interest.

I saw cigarettes on 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 people from smoking. Moreover, they are larger than on cigarette packs in Russia. Prices are approximately two times higher than in Russia. For the sake of experiment, I bought a Malaysian Winston for 17 ringit. The taste is the same as that produced in Russia, there are no differences... By the way, smoking is allowed in cafes and restaurants - there are ashtrays on the tables almost everywhere, there are no restrictions. Smoking is prohibited only in places where there is a prohibition sign (usually at government institutions).

It is worth noting the cheap soda on sale - 0.33 l. a can of Pepsi or Cola costs from 1 to 5 ringit in different places, on average about 3. Somehow an interesting can of soda with a picture of corn caught my eye. I started looking - corn soda! By the way, it’s a very interesting taste)) And it quenches your thirst. Moreover, the drink itself is almost like milk, white. In general, Asians are very creative when experimenting with different tastes. Consider, for example, Orbit or Dirol chewing gum with cucumber flavor (!). Unfortunately (or fortunately), I didn’t come across it. But experienced tourists say that it is for sale.

I had a chance to try various wonderful tropical fruits. Unfortunately, for some reason I didn’t take a photo of them, so I’ll attach a photo, brazenly taken from the Internet)) Here, for example, is a cream apple. Green fruit irregularly shaped, about the size of a fist or larger. Inside there is soft sweet and sour pulp and black hard seeds. The seeds, as it turned out later, are poisonous! But I didn’t eat them, I spat them out right away. The pulp is somewhat reminiscent of pineapple. I really liked it.

Many people probably know the taste of this fruit; mango flavoring 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 and the color is similar to a carrot. The core with seeds is thrown away, the rest is cut into slices and eaten:

I saw a big, big greenish orange on sale. It turned out that it was not an orange, but a fruit called pomelo. Also from the citrus family, but I found it very watery:

And of course, how can we not mention 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, area of ​​growth 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 “aromas” , but the smell is really pungent and unpleasant. I don't even know how to describe it. With all this, the pulp has a very sweet taste and delicate texture, but the smell spoils everything. I was only able to overcome myself small piece the size of a full dot)) The disgusting aftertaste lingered in the mouth for a couple of hours and sometimes rose from somewhere in the depths of the stomach)) In a word, it’s not for everyone. 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 take it into hotels and airplanes!

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What to try in Malaysia, what delicacies to look for on the city streets and in restaurants? What food will cause a storm of emotions and will be dreamed of on long winter nights after arriving home? Today everything is about Malay national cuisine, about where to eat deliciously in Kuala Lumpur and stay alive and healthy.

There are not many native Malay dishes. Personally, I don't like them very much, and some give me serious indigestion. But what is valuable in Malaysia is that you can try dishes from different Asian cuisines without leaving the same block. Malaysia is a multinational country. Immigrants from China, India, Thailand and Indonesia have lived here for almost a century. Each nation has put a piece of its own into Malay cuisine. Sometimes you don’t even understand how Malay curry with galangal, kaffir lime and chili paste differs from Thai, or Malay Laksa soup from the Chinese version.

Street BBQ Satay

Satay is pieces of vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, meat or frog legs strung on wooden skewers. Satay is sold in large trays in street cafes or restaurants.

The visitor selects the skewers whose contents he would like to eat and goes to his table. It's already prepared there large saucepan with boiling broth. The gas burner that heats the container is located directly under the table. Visitors cook their own satay in broth and eat it hot right away.

If you wish, you can ask the chef to grill the satay over charcoal. In my opinion, this option tastes better. Typically, satay is served with several sauces at once. I prefer sweet and sour nutty.

Rice pyramidsNasiLemak

Mysterious green banana leaf pyramids are sold everywhere in Malaysia. There are several ingredients inside: rice soaked and boiled in coconut milk, half a boiled egg, peanuts and dried anchovies. Sometimes meat or seafood is placed in this dish instead of fish. Malays usually eat Nasi Lemak for breakfast and consider it almost a symbol of their country.

Nothing special for my taste. You can try it once, but this is not a dish that you will remember with pleasure later.

Fried Noodles or Goreng Rice

Goreng means fried in Malay. There are gorengs made from different types of noodles (Mee Goreng - yellow noodles, Koey Teow Goreng, Bihun Goreng) and from rice (Nasi Goreng). Gorengs are also served in expensive restaurants, for example, seasoning fried noodles seafood. This dish is also prepared in street markets. There noodles and rice are fried under open air in huge wok pans. That's how they sell it - straight from the fire, wrapped in food paper.

Gorengs vaguely remind me of Thai Pad Thai and stir-fry rice. This tasty dish, but very fatty and high in calories. For those who are not afraid to gain weight.

SoupLaksa

Laksa soup is a source of pride for the Malays. Fish spicy sour broth with ginger, tamarind and shrimp pastes. It contains shrimp, vegetables and rice noodles. A very filling lunch.

There are a lot of variations of Laksa soup; each state has its own recipe, which may differ in taste from others, such as borscht, cabbage soup and rassolnik. Laksa is made not only from seafood, but also from meat or chicken.

Apam balik dessert

An excellent dessert that no night market in Malaysia can do without. In small frying pans, fry a pancake from thick dough, stuff it with grated sweet corn, peanuts, sprinkled with sugar. Once the pancake is completely cooked, it is folded into a crescent shape and placed on a banana leaf or paper. The pancake is tender, the edges are crispy - delicious! Ideal for a Malay breakfast.

Dessert Ais Kachang

Ice, ground into crumbs in a blender, is flavored with a large number of ingredients. It could be red sweet beans, corn, colored jelly cubes. All this is poured with condensed milk or sweet fruit syrup. The Malays adore this dish, but tourists are often not delighted not only with appearance melted Ice Kachang, but also from its taste.

Rice in bambooLemang
This is my favorite delicacy in Malaysia. Salted rice soaked in coconut milk. The inside of the bamboo shoots is lined with a banana leaf, then the cavity of the stick is filled with prepared rice and baked over a fire for several hours. This dish can be either a meal on its own or a side dish for meat, fish or seafood. Before eating, carefully remove the remaining banana leaves from the rice.

In the video, the trader takes Lemang out of the bamboo.

Stuffed tofuSumbat

This is street food, but that doesn't make it any less delicious. Fried tofu stuffed with carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts. This dish comes with a packet of homemade chili sauce. This portion costs only 2 ringgit ($0.7), is sold everywhere, and is a great option for a snack on the road.

Murtabak

This is perhaps the most delicious dish you can taste at a regular night market. And although its roots are Thai, murtabak is prepared throughout Malaysia. A large pancake stuffed with minced meat, onions, lots of spices and a spicy sweet and sour sauce. Murtabak costs little, it is a large and very filling dish.

Buah berangan chestnut

Roasted chestnuts are sold all over Kuala Lumpur in these huge vats. Chestnuts taste sweet, which is why the Malays themselves call these nuts fruit. Chestnuts contain a lot of vitamin C, and one hundred grams of the edible part contain 180 kilocalories. This is less than in other nuts.

Lan Soya (Tau Fu fa)

The most delicate soufflé from soy milk. I first tried it in Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur. There was a long queue at the stall with two vats. This dish was served hot liquid version- such as sweet soy jelly, as well as in frozen form, with syrup or condensed milk. Later I ate such a soufflé and...

Excellent dish, not very sweet - perfect option universal baby food in Malaysia. Soy contains a lot of healthy protein, and the consistency of this dessert allows you to feed it even to babies.

PancakesRoti- street food with Indian roots. An ultra-thin pancake, quickly fried in oil, with various sweet or meat fillings. Roti Canai - pancake with condensed milk.

And a few more dishes with brief descriptions, which were not included in the main list. Perhaps this list will help you when going to one of the restaurants in Malaysia.

Char kuey teow(Char Ku Tua) - one of the best dishes in Malaysia. Flat rice noodles stir-fried with lard, dark and light soy sauce, bean sprouts, clams, shrimp, egg and shallots. Malay chefs recommend trying it first.

Nasi kerabu- blue rice, colored with crushed Telanga flowers, with soybean sprouts, fried with coconut flakes and chicken in fish sauce.

Ayam Percik- chicken in garlic-ginger sauce with coconut milk.

Rendang- it is made from chicken, beef or lamb. It is sometimes compared to Indian curry. Redang is meat stewed over low heat in milk and spices.

Kuih- translated from Malay - cake or pastry. Multicolored dessert originally from China. If you see small squares painted in layers in different colors- this is Kuih.

Popia basah - spring rolls, but not as oily as in Vietnamese cuisine . Inside rice paper usually vegetables: bean sprouts, fried onion, lettuce leaves and turnips.

Sambal udang- shrimp according to the recipe of Baba Nonya cuisine (cuisine of immigrants from China). Large shrimp are fried in a sauce of chilli, tamarind, onion and garlic, with lemongrass stalk and shrimp paste.

Asam Pedas- fish with curry. Considered one of the best fish dishes in Malaysia. The sauce contains tamarind, ginger, garlic, shrimp paste and herbs.

Ikan bakar- another fish dish that is baked on the barbecue. The fish is coated with sauce, wrapped in a banana leaf and fried over an open fire.

Pisang Goreng- bananas fried in batter. This dish uses special variety small bananas, which when raw are absolutely tasteless, and when heat treatment They become sweet and somewhat reminiscent of our cheesecakes.

Gulai ayam camp- chicken with potatoes in sweet and sour sauce with thin citrus aroma. Prepared with the addition of lemongrass, bergamot leaves (kaffir lime), lime juice, palm sugar, various herbs and spices.

Lor bak- bean curd stuffed with marinated pork. These “pies” are deep-fried and served with chili sauce and Lor egg-corn sauce.

Beverages

In Malaysia they drink tea with condensed milk and spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, etc.).

Tincture of brewed pearl barley: drink warm or with ice, sometimes flavored with lemon juice.

Chinchao is a drink made from the extract of mesona (similar to mint), with slices of jelly from the same plant. Sometimes soy milk is added to the glass.

Can become an exotic delicacy coconut water, which is drunk through a straw directly from the nut, or juice sugar cane, which is sold on street stalls.

Where to eat normal non-hot and non-spicy food in Kuala Lumpur?

If you don't really like Malay cuisine or are coming to Kuala Lumpur with a child, then it is best to have lunch and dinner in Chinatown. In Chinatown, they prepare food not only from the Middle Kingdom, but also Indian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Thai dishes.

I'll share the coordinates secret place one hundred meters from Chinatown, which is very loved by the residents of Kuala Lumpur. Palm Café is very clean, it is not a street establishment with plastic chairs, but modern restaurant with comfortable furniture, air conditioning, sockets and WiFi.

Those who call themselves gourmets should definitely try (and maybe even love) 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 the people who cook for you with such pleasure National dishes.

Malaysians are truly lucky. Thanks to a multinational society, their cuisine shows the influence of almost all cuisines of the world: Chinese, Indian... You can just name any nationality and there will definitely be a dish related to it in one way or another. Some of the cooking methods may seem a little rough, some of the dishes could use 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 items would not be enough. However, here is a list of 10 dishes of Malaysian cuisine that will definitely not leave you indifferent.

banana leaves

Chettinad, being one of the largest South Indian cuisines, originated from the Chettinad district of Tamil Nadu in southern India. If you love rice, then you will definitely like this rice wrapped in banana leaves.

The rice is served on a banana leaf along with vegetables, meat or fish curry, pickles or the instantly addictive papadam (which looks like giant flat chips). But in most cases, only curry sauce is served without meat, since this dish is considered vegetarian. If you are not a vegetarian, you can try lamb rendang and dried chicken curry along with rice.

Eating this dish can be a little challenging since it is eaten with your hands, but most tourists simply accept it as part of tradition.

Nasi Dagang

No traditional Malaysian meal is complete without this dish.
Nasi Dagang is a fantastically delicious dish consisting of rice steamed in coconut milk, fish curry and other ingredients such as shelled fried coconut, lada salt, hard-boiled egg and pickled cucumbers.

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 originated in a place called Kampung Ladang, which is located in the Kuala Terengganu area. Everyone who has tried it in this particular place says that it is truly the most delicious of all.

Bakutte

The name literally translates as “tea brewed on meat bones.” To prepare it pork ribs, coated with fat, are simmered in a broth of herbs and spices (including the addition of star anise, cinnamon, cloves, angelica, dill seeds and garlic). Cook bakutte 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.

Excellent baku teh is made at the Yik See Ho restaurant. It is located near the Pudu Wet market, and is very popular among the local elite.

Where else can you see a butcher chopping a pig carcass on the corner for tomorrow's menu, one and a half meters away from you, eating local delicacies? Well, this is the Pudu lifestyle.

Hokkien Mee

Fried Hokkien mee (akin to Chinese fried yellow noodles) is wildly popular in Japan. The dish consists of wide yellow noodles stewed in thick soy sauce with pork, squid, fish cutlet and cabbage as the main ingredients and finely diced crispy fried lard as a side dish. Rumor has it that lard – main component.

This dish is eaten before an all-night party, after a night of partying, 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 mee.

Sang Har noodles

Fresh river shrimp cooked Cantonese style in a thick egg broth served with thin or egg noodles. The shrimp roe goes into the egg broth and gives the noodles a phenomenal flavor. It's amazing how well the dense shrimp combine with the elastic, thin noodles to create an incredibly flavorful dish. It was as if they were made for each other.

Sate

After san har mi, you should definitely try sentul sate. Analogues of this dish include Japanese yakitori, Turkish kebab, South African soseti or Chinese chuan.

Barbecueing meat is simple, but the process is still fascinating. You feel a childish feeling of delight because you are eating meat prepared with your own hands. A mandatory ingredient for cooking, thanks to which the dish acquires yellow– turmeric.

Satay is served with spicy peanut gravy or peanut sauce, chopped onions and cucumbers and ketupat (a rice block cooked in a thick braid of palm or, less commonly, banana leaves). And here in front of you is a dish as tasty as fast food, but unlike it, satay 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 consists of steamed rice, sometimes slightly seasoned, served with various types curry and side dishes. Served with rice are fried chicken, gizzards, lamb curry, diced beef, fish roe, fried shrimp or fried squid. The vegetables usually served are brinjal, okra or bitter gourd.

The rice is poured with a mixture of curry sauces. When you order a dish, be sure to ask to pour a mixture of curry sauces on the rice: fish + chicken + dal. Wait a little and 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 aroma of the sauce remains even after washing them. And this is considered one of the advantages of this dish.

Char siu rice

Char siu (BBQ pork) is another dish worth trying while in Malaysia. Long fatty pieces pork meat boneless, threaded onto skewers and fried either in a closed oven or over a fire. The meat, usually chosen from the shoulder area, is seasoned with honey, a mixture of 5 spices, fermented (also called stinky) tofu, and sprinkled with dark soy sauce, sometimes with the addition of chili, vinegar, and garlic. Melted sugar and seasoning give the meat a reddish color.

Instead of honey, only sugar can be used, then the meat acquires a characteristic shine. Char siu is prepared 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 shed a stingy man's tear, admiring the taste of this dish.

Fresh river prawns from Tanjung Tualang

Lung Seng Tajung Tualang, Perak, North. At least once in a lifetime, everyone should make a pilgrimage to the mecca of fresh river shrimp and all types of crustaceans. Many from Kuala Lumpur often travel two hours to Tajung Tualang in Perak just to taste the fresh freshwater prawns.

The shrimp here are the freshest (they just float in tanks on the street). The cook throws 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...delicious!

Nasi lemak

This is a dish you definitely shouldn't miss. 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 its delicious aroma. coconut cream. It is then wrapped in a banana leaf and served along with one of the above mentioned dishes. Sometimes the rice is wrapped in pandan leaf, ginger leaf or lemongrass stem to make it more flavorful.

Malaysian nasi lemak is made using 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, stir-fried water spinach (kangkong), pickled vegetables (achar) or beef rendang (beef stewed in coconut milk and spices).

Malaysian cuisine is incredibly delicious, but slightly unhealthy. However, at least once in your life, you should try it.

The reason for Malaysia's gastronomic diversity lies in the country's geographical location and history. The port cities of the Malay Peninsula and nearby islands once hosted thousands of merchant ships from the Middle East, India, China and Indonesia. Culinary traditions of different peoples were borrowed, acquired an independent life in Malaysia, or in one way or another influenced already existing recipes. Thus, gradually, over several centuries, a certain general gastronomic layer was formed, which is generally called “Malaysian cuisine.”

Rice is the head of everything

Muslims and Buddhists, Chinese and Hindus, rich and poor - all Malaysians eat the same amount rice. They do whatever they can with it: boil it, steam it, fry it, and also put it in a bamboo cavity and cook it on coals. Rice is cooked with coconut milk, spices, vegetables, seafood, herbs, even sugar...

Rice is both a side dish and an integral part of many dishes: noodles are made from it, rice porridge bubur and even desserts. You will often see the word “nasi” in the names of dishes. (nasi) meaning "rice": nasi ayyam (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 accord

But Malay cuisine does not rely on rice alone. Spicy pastes and dry spices prepared from fresh ingredients give dishes a bright and rich taste.

Centuries ago, merchants from India and the Arabian Peninsula introduced local residents to some spices and curry mixture. Later, the Portuguese colonialists brought chili pepper to Southeast Asia, which is now a rare dish or sauce in Malaysia. Malay cuisine is also unthinkable without garlic, which is included in 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 imparting delicate aroma soups, curries and tea. 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 cooks. The Malays use hotter and spicy spices, as well as coconut, Indians prefer curry, and the Chinese flavor their dishes mainly with herbs.

Cultural mosaic

A culinary acquaintance with Malaysia should start with traditional Malay dishes. Since the majority of ethnic Malays are Muslims, you will never find illicit pork or alcohol in their diet, and all ingredients and cooking methods are halal.

The main dishes of Malay cuisine are prepared from chicken, fish, lamb or beef, along with vegetables and herbs (some of which grow and are eaten only in Malaysia). Start with steamed spiced rice nasi lemak (nasi lemak), which is often served with curried chicken, beef or seafood; add slices to it fresh cucumber, a handful of roasted peanuts and a pinch of tiny dried fish and you get the most common breakfast in Malaysia.

At lunch you will most often find fried rice nasi goreng (nasi goreng) or fried noodles mi goreng (mee goreng, on the picture). There are many recipes, but the principle is the same: rice or noodles are fried with a mixture of chili, garlic, as well as egg, shrimp, tomatoes, etc. Sometimes tofu bean curd 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, recipes and ingredients of dishes will vary significantly. For example, in the north of the country, dishes have a distinct sour note (more tamarind, carambola and lime are added to dishes) and influences from neighboring Thailand can be seen. In addition, northern Malay cuisine is distinguished by the delicate aroma of lemongrass, pandanus, kaffir and Thai basil.

The southwest coast and southern Malaysia are treated to Indonesian hot-spicy dishes with fish and meat. Even in the names of the dishes there is a mention of the place of origin. Mi java (mee java)- thick noodles spicy sauce, along with which they offer crispy fish cookies, potato slices and soybean shoots - came along with the Javanese settlers. Nasi padang (nasi padang)- rice with vegetables and spicy meat, fish or chicken - a reminder of Padang, in western Sumatra.

Let's also mention popular ones throughout Malaysia satay (satay)- small skewers of chicken or meat served with peanut sauce. This dish is borrowed from the cuisine of neighboring Indonesia.

The closest thing to Malay cuisine is Indian, primarily the one prepared by Hindus who profess Islam (as a rule, immigrants from South India). However, what Indians from other states offer in their restaurants (for example, Sikhs from Punjab or Tamils ​​from Tamil Nadu) also enjoys love and popularity among residents of Malaysia and its guests. Get ready for a scorching sensation spicy soups, vegetarian dishes and meat, the most delicate dishes cooked in tandoor ( clay oven), as well as Indian dishes that you won’t 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 canai (roti canai). Preparation of this thin puff pastry- a real performance: a ball of tight dough is “rolled out” with quick rotations (in the air) to the thickness of tissue paper, then instantly placed on a hot flat frying pan and folded into an envelope. The secret ingredient that sets Malai roti apart from any other is literally a spoonful of condensed milk that is added to the dough. The most delicate crispy flatbread is eaten with curry or dal, lentil and vegetable stew. If you put roti inside chopped meat(lamb or chicken) with onions, this dish is called martabak.

Chinese question

About a third of Malaysia's population are ethnic Chinese, coming from various provinces (mostly southern) of mainland China and Hainan Island. Most of them settled in the country during the British colonial era. It was they who taught the Malays how to skillfully use a wok and enriched the Malay table with such exotic dishes like fried duck tongues, shark fin soup, jellyfish salad, stew sea ​​cucumber or swallow's nest soup.

However, exotic is exotic, and a daily Chinese-style lunch 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 courses with various appetite-tempting sauces. Very popular in restaurants dim sum (dim sum) with pork and thin noodles (wonton mee) or flat rice noodles with chunks pork sausage and soy sauce.

Malays who practice Islam do not go to Chinese restaurants because most of them serve pork, but any Malay knows what it is. behun (beehoon). This is a thin fried dish rice vermicelli included in the Malay wedding menu. Chinese dishes, in turn, have been enriched in Malaysia with new nuances: Malay and Indian spices and English sauces.

The dishes that Pernakan prepare are incredibly interesting. This ethnic group, the result of mixed marriages (usually a Chinese man and a Malay woman), not only has its own unique cuisine, but also language, traditions and clothing. Let us add in parentheses that you can also find other names for representatives of this ethnic group, so here it is: the word “baba” is used to call a Pernakan man, and the word “Nyonya” is a Pernakan woman. You can get acquainted with the unique Peranakan culture in Penang or Malacca. What you are about to try has no analogues. Baba/Nyonya cook pork and other traditionally Chinese foods with local ingredients and spices. Peranakan food is quite inventive and demanding large quantity time and ingredients, however, even such simple dishes as laksa (laksa)- soup with Chinese noodles and Malay spices, pineapple patties or rice balls you will remember the chicken from Malacca for a long time.