The Cuisines
Malay cuisine is based on rice, often enriched with santan (coconut milk), which is served with a dazzling variety of curries, vegetable stir-fries and sambals, a condiment of chillies and shrimp paste. The most famous dish is satay - virtually Malaysia's national dish - which is skewers of barbecued meat dipped in spicy peanut sauce. The classic way to sample Malay curries is to eat nasi campur , a buffet (usually served at lunchtime) of steamed rice supplemented by any of up to two dozen accompanying dishes, including lembu (beef), kangkong (greens), fried chicken, fish steaks and curry sauce, and various vegetables. Ather popular dish is nasi goreng (mixed fried rice with meat, seafood and vegetables). For breakfast, the most popular Malay dish is nasi lemak , rice cooked in coconut milk and served with sambal ikan bilis (tiny fried anchovies in hot chilli paste). In Sabah , there's the Murut speciality of jaruk - raw wild boar fermented in a bamboo tube, but the most famous Sabah dish is hinava, or raw fish pickled in lime juice. In Sarawak , you're most likely to eat with the Iban, sampling wild boar with jungle ferns and sticky rice. A particular favourite in Kuching are bamboo clams, small pencil-shaped slivery delicacies which only grow in the wild in mangrove-dense riverine locations. These are called "monkey's penises" by the locals. Typical Nonya dishes incorporate elements from Chinese, Indonesian and Thai cooking. Chicken, fish and seafood form the backbone of the cuisine, and unlike Malay food, pork is used. Noodles ( mee) flavoured with chillies, and rich curries made from rice flour and coconut cream, are common. A popular breakfast dish is laksa, noodles in spicy coconut soup served with seafood and beansprouts, lemon grass, pineapple, pepper, lime leaves and chilli. Other popular Nonya dishes include ayam buah keluak, chicken cooked with Indonesian "black" nuts; and otak-otak, fish mashed with coconut milk and chilli and steamed in a banana leaf. Chinese food dominates in Malaysia - fish and seafood is nearly always outstanding, with prawns, crab, squid and a variety of fish on offer almost everywhere. Noodles, too, are ubiquitous, and come in wonderful variations - thin, flat, round, served in soup (wet) or fried (dry). Malaysians eat mee any time of the day or night, and a particular favourite is a dish called hokkien mee : fat, white noodles with tempe in a rich soy sauce whipped up in three minutes flat by a wok chef at the side of the road. The dominant style is Cantonese and the classic lunch is dim sum, a variety of steamed and fried dumplings served in bamboo baskets. Standard dishes include chicken in chilli or with cashew nuts; buttered prawns, or prawns served with a sweet and sour sauce; spare ribs; and mixed vegetables with tofu (beancurd) and beansprouts. For something a little more unusual, try a steamboat, a Chinese-style fondue filled with boiling stock in which you cook meat, fish, shellfish, eggs and vegetables; or a claypot - meat, fish or shellfish cooked over a fire in an earthenware pot. North Indian food tends to rely more on meat, especially mutton and chicken, and breads - naan, chapatis, parathas and rotis - rather than rice. The most famous style of north Indian cooking is tandoori - named after the clay oven in which the food is cooked. A favourite breakfast is roti canai (pancake and daal) or roti kaya (pancake spread with egg and jam). Southern Indian food tends to be spicier and more reliant on vegetables. Its staple is the dosai (pancake), often served at breakfast time as a masala dosai, stuffed with onions, vegetables and chutney. Indian Muslims serve the similar murtabak, a grilled roti pancake with egg and minced meat. Many south Indian cafes serve daun pisang at lunchtime, usually a vegetarian meal where rice is served on banana leaves with vegetable curries. It's normal to eat a banana-leaf meal with your right hand, though restaurants will always have cutlery.
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