Malaysian food

Would like to try it since a restaurant just opened in our town. I love all ethnic food. To date, Thai is my favorite. But I know nothing about Malasian.

Can anyone tell me something about it--herbs/spices used, what other ethnic food would it be compared to--any suggested dishess for a newbie--signature dishes,

thank you very much for any help you can offer.

They have excellent curries, for one. Also, excellent noodles. My favorite Malaysian dish is one called Char Kway Teeoaw. Lots of noodles and meat and sauce. My wife's fave was Mee Gor Reng. They're both great, and the curries are good too.

If they have an appetizer called Roti Canai, don't miss it. This bread that you tear and dip into a delicious curry with chicken and potatoes. Yum!

Think combination of Indian cuisine with Chinese noodle dishes and you'll get the idea.

Here's a nice website on the topic, complete with descriptions of spices used, recipes and pictures:

http://www.malaysianfood.net/

I was born in Malaysia, so I'm a little biased...but the food is incredible. :) Seasoning is similar to Thai and Indonesian cuisine, but not exactly alike. (It's a little difficult to explain, the website will probably do a better job.) A few things to look out for:

roti canai, a wonderfully flaky round of bread with curry dipping sauce
beef rendang, slow cooked beef curry with a very thick gravy seasoned with spices and rich coconut milk
ikan pari bakar, usually stingray or fish slathered in spices or sambal, wrapped in banana leaves and grilled
nasi lemak, usually breakfast food, it's coconut rice usually served with curry, maybe a hard boiled egg, some ikan bilis or dried fish, and sambal chili sauce on the side.
satay, of course, a classic dish done with chicken, beef, mutton or pork marinated in coconut milk and spices, then skewered and grilled, served with cucumbers and onions with a peanut dipping sauce
chow kway teow, a garlicky, spicy dish of stir-fried noodles with bean sprouts, scallions and usually shrimp, but sometimes with cockles or mussels in addition to this.

Oh geez, there's really so many dishes to list... Fish head curry (way better than it sounds), various spicy crab dishes, it's all good. I don't know what your local restaurant might offer, but the above are some of the better known dishes that are likely to be found in a Malaysian restaurant. I'd say just go with your instincts and enjoy. :)

Anybody is Knoxville know if "Malaysia" is still around. It was in a strip mall by WalMart and closed when Wally World expanded. I'd heard they had moved to west Knox but I've been unable to locate.

My favorite Malaysian dish is wonton laksa. Laksa is a spicy coconut curry soup with rice noodles and often wontons.

quote:

Originally posted by arianej



I was born in Malaysia, so I'm a little biased...but the food is incredible. :) Seasoning is similar to Thai and Indonesian cuisine, but not exactly alike.

I have been to a place in San Francisco called the Straits Cafe which claimed it serves Singaporean food. Since Singapore sits at the end of the Malay Peninsula and much of the population is Malay (or Chinese), I'd assume the food is the same or similar. Right? Or not?

Check it out: http://www.straitsrestaurants.com/SF/SF.html

Looks very much like Malaysian, BT. My wife'sa favcorite dish was Mee Goreng (on the menu) and mine was Char Kway Teow. But I've had some curries and they were really good on some cold nights.

quote:

Originally posted by BTSince Singapore sits at the end of the Malay Peninsula and much of the population is Malay (or Chinese), I'd assume the food is the same or similar. Right? Or not?

Malaysia is majority Muslim, though, while Singapore has a great deal of Chinese influence. They were an English colony, too, and are influenced by them, the French, the Japanese. Basically since it's a big shipping port, they're a bit more cosmopolitan. Malaysia is more likely to do coconut milk-based curries and things, while Singapore is going to look much more like interesting Chinese with strange things like toffee apples, and trifle, and croquettes, and other English-influenced stuff.

I've never been to a Singaporean restaurant, but my father has an amusing story from his stay there on business once.

Dad loves restaurants. He's a major foodie, but he doesn't do discussion forums, or he'd be here. He's just not a joiner. But when he was in Singapore, he ventured out one night to a floating restaurant on a boat in Singapore Harbor. On the menu was "Maryland Chicken." Now we're from Maryland, so he just had to know. He ordered it, and it turned out to be a chicken leg, with a slice of ham draped over it, and . . . a side of fried bananas. After dinner he told the waiter that he was from Maryland, and the waiter eagerly whisked him into the kitchen to meet the Chef. The Chef proudly showed Dad the "cookbook" he was using, which turned out to be a laminated set of photographs of American food. Under "Maryland Chicken" was, indeed, a chicken leg, with, indeed, a slice of ham. And a side of hush puppies. Dad told the guy that he'd gotten the fried bananas exactly right.

Great story, Jennie! I was in Pakistan once, and eating breakfast in what I thought would have been a pretty nice restaurant. I ordered some kind of egg and when it came out and I took off the shell, my "egg" had feathers.

quote:

Originally posted by BT
I have been to a place in San Francisco called the Straits Cafe which claimed it serves Singaporean food. Since Singapore sits at the end of the Malay Peninsula and much of the population is Malay (or Chinese), I'd assume the food is the same or similar. Right? Or not?

Check it out: http://www.straitsrestaurants.com/SF/SF.html

Yeah, it'll be fairly similar. As someone else already noted, Singapore has more of a Chinese population, but I took a quick look at that website and the menu lists many different types of cuisines: Malay, Chinese, Indian, Nonyan, etc. That's pretty much how Malaysia is.

Ariane