The Malays have a distinct cuisine and the ingredients are gathered from the environment around them such as coconuts, herbs and spices, Malay cuisine is often spicy and also strongly influenced by Thai and Indian cuisine. Most traditional Malay food varies from state to state, each with its own delicacies. Even the ever-popular satay, which is skewered chicken or beef cooked over hot coals and eaten dipped with a sweet peanut sauce, varies from one state to another.
Rice, being the staple food is always eaten with lauk, simply meaning a curry or sauce of some sort, more often than not cooked in coconut milk. Then there is fragrant rice with bits of meat or vegetables. There are many variations to this, such as the nasi dagang of Kelantan or the nasi kandar of Penang, which is influenced by Indian Muslims.
The preparation of Malay food involved the blending of shallots, garlic and chillies, which are pounded and fried. These are often mixed with dry spices such as coriander, cumin, aniseed, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom all ground together and cooked in a concoction of coconut milk.
A popular Malay dish is nasi lemak, which is steaming hot rice cooked in coconut milk accompanied by anchovies, hard boiled egg, cucumber and the most unlikely addition of toasted peanuts, all wrapped in banana leaf.
What makes the Malay curry different from an Indian curry is the slightly tangy flavour of various herbs such as lemon grass, lime leafs, coriander and the curry leaf. All these are grown in abundance in household gardens. Another favourite is the use of screw pine leaves which is used as a flavouring especially in rice or desserts.
A spread of Malay food must include sambal balachan, which is a dried shrimp paste, which is ground with fresh chillies.
Beef rending is also distinctly Malay. Cubes of beef is cooked in a thick gravy of coconut cream and herbs, and served with lemang which is glutinous rice cooked in bamboo.
Variations of noodles in gravy are another Malay specialty adopted from the Chinese. Among the most appealing of these is mee rebus:yellow noodles in a lightly spiced sauce made from sweet potato and usually topped with hard-boiled egg and freshly cut green chillies. There is also mee soto: yellow noodles with bean sprouts served in chicken stock and topped with chicken meat. Yet another favourite is the hot and spicy laksa, in which rice noodles are served in spicy coconut milk with chicken and eggs. The Chinese have a similar version with added ingredients of fried bean curd and quails egg. Penang laksa, which is minced mackerel soup with noodles, pineapple, shredded shallots and fresh mint, is also one dish which has a Chinese influence but uniquely Malaysian in flavour.
Malay desserts are unusually sweet and tasty. A typically Malaysian option is ais kachang, a mountain of ice shavings made colourful by red and green coloured syrup and evaporated milk poured over the top. Below the ice shavings there are fillings of red beans, jelly and sweet corn. Another is the chendol, ice shavings added to a concoction of coconut milk and red beans sweetened further by gula Melaka which is raw brown sugar. Malay cakes are usually made from rice flour and are often steamed.
The best time to sample authentic Malay food is during the uniquely Malaysian custom of holding an open house during Hari Raya Puasa which marks the end of fasting during the month of Ramadan.
Most Malay food is found at hawker stalls and food courts around the country and the price at hawker stalls is relatively cheap. In the past few years, there have been many restaurants that have been set up that serve authentic Malay food.
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