Joanna James
It's saying a lot when you see Malaysian food in almost every restaurant in Southeast Asia. The popularity of Malaysian cuisine has reached far off making it known to every foodie in the world.
It's a combination of noodles and seafood along with other condiments to spice up the dish. It is sort of a bouillon made of coconut milk, prawns, soft tofu puffs and bean sprouts. But at some top restaurants in Kuala Lumpur – you may find variations of this dish where you will get rice or vermicelli in the place of noodles. Every recipe is tasty in its own way, and a must try.
Influenced by the Chinese cooking style in Teochew area, Char Kuey Teow is a national dish loved by locals and foreigners alike. It is known to non-nationals as stir-fried rice cake strips – basically, it is noodles fried with shrimp, bloody cockles, eggs, bean sprouts, Chinese lap cheong with some soy sauce added to enhance the flavour. The speciality of this dish lies in the use of fresh ingredients. You can enjoy this at Silka Maytower, Kuala Lumpur or any other Malaysian eatery.
Your purpose of sampling Malaysian cuisine is defeated if you don't try this one. Nasi Lemak is the national dish in the country and most popular and the easiest to find. The dish is a fusion of coconut rice, sambal paste and eggs. The fancier version includes a piece of fried chicken. The sambal is a bit spicy so don't forget to order a glass of lemon juice to wash it down.
You've probably heard of this one – in almost every travel article it is talked about. Second only to Nasi Lemak, Roti Kanai is also a national dish influenced by the Indian cuisine. It is flatbread fried on both sides on a frying pan until it becomes crispy. It usually comes with a filling of eggs, cheese and onion and is served with lentil soup.
This is another soup noodle made with a spicy soup base. Every mouthful has the flavour of shrimps which is achieved by boiling the soup for hours with shrimp heads and shells. In addition to shrimps, you will find yellow noodles and thin vermicelli thrown into the mix.
If you crave the spiciness in Malaysian dishes, here you are – Chili Pan Mee is a noodle dish made with thick round noodles. It is coated in a spicy chilli mix and usually accompanied by fried anchovies and a poached egg. There's a soup version as well if you like to simmer down the level of spiciness in the dish.
In other words, pork bone tea – though it is not really tea some complex herbal mix – Bak Kut Teh is pork cubes stewed in a herbal soup base. The soup is cooked over medium heat until it gets tender. The dish is usually served with bread, rice fried with onions, veggies and chilli sauce.
A simple but an amazingly tasty dish. It's rice made with ginger, garlic and chicken stock which is served with boiled chicken or fried chicken. To stir up the taste, there is chilli ginger dip as well.
It's practically impossible to find a Malaysian dish without noodles. Pork noodles is another noodle dish found in Kuala Lumpur. The dish is made by frying noodles, pork and sausages together in some sort of black sauce. To bring out the taste of the meal, most restaurants serve it with a chilli dip.
This is highly popular in every Southeast Asian country. Satay is more of a snack than a full-on meal but can be consumed for dinner as well. It is skewered meat grilled with lots of spices. Another point of note is that satay is an Indonesian national dish. The meat is consumed with peanut sauce and sliced onions. Don't forget to add a taste of this to your gastronomic tour Kuala Lumpur.
A true believer that the pen is a mighty weapon, ventures into reaching the minds of every reader with the earnest hope of leaving an indelible stream of thought.
A travel writer who has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world.
