Traditional Malay Recipes

Malay Food Variety

noreply@blogger.com (ATAN RAHIM) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 15:58:00 +0000

Traditional Malay Dishes

Over the years, Malay food has developed variations mainly because of the strong influence from Malaysia’s surrounding countries like India, Indonesia and even the Middle East. But Malay food is almost always spicy and is guaranteed to make anyone’s taste buds go haywire because of its overflowing flavours. The flavour is the result of combining different ingredients like kunyit or turmeric, pandan leaves, lime leaves, laksa leaves, nutmeg, bunga kantan or wild ginger buds, basil, lemon grass, etc. Herbs and spices truly give any dish that oomph and the most common ones are pepper, anise, cumin, coriander, onions, garlic, etc.

Here are some samples of Malay dishes:

Rendang – I love how this meat dish is bursting with the flavours of chilli, onions, coconut milk and assorted herbs and spices. This dish is best eaten as toppings on steamed rice. You will relish every bite of the tender meat. This dish is commonly served during the Hari Raya Festival.

Ayam Goreng – It sounds complicated but really this is just your regular Fried Chicken. The whole chicken is marinated in turmeric powder or curry powder. After a few minutes, the whole raw chicken is deep fried and served hot. Another variation of this dish is called Ayam Percik which is grilled chicken that is served with ultra spicy sauce.

Kangkung Belacan – Kangkung is stir friend in shrimp paste which is called Belacan. Hot chili peppers are also added to make this dish sizzle.

Varieties of Keropok – The keropok is made by grounding fish meat until it reaches a paste-like consistency. After this, sago is added to the mixture. Keropok is commonly served in two ways – there’s the chewy version which is called lekor and there’s the crispy version which is called keping. This fried snack, served with a special chili dip, is more visible in Terengganu.

Nasi Dagang – This particular dish is made by cooking two kinds of rice – plain white rice and glutinous rice – together in a pot. After cooking the rice, you would have to add creamy coconut milk before serving together with a side dish. Side dishes include fish curry and pickled vegetables.

Nasi Lemak - Nasi Lemak is rice cooked together with coconut milk and then served with other ingredients like roasted nuts, egg, anchovies and chili paste. This is served together with Rendang.

Sata – The Sata is prepared by combining various ingredients like shallots, ginger, and fish and pounding them until the mixture becomes a paste. This paste is then wrapped in banana leaves then grilled over low fire.

Satay – Satay is another favorite and is considered very popular among Malaysians. Different kinds of meat including chicken, beef, lamb, etc are cut into bite size pieces and skewered. These skewers are grilled over burning charcoal. It is best to serve Satay while it is still hot. You must not forget the peanut sauce!

Serunding – This dish is made from shredded meat or meat floss that is combined with different herbs and spices.

HOW TO MAKE NASI LEMAK

noreply@blogger.com (ATAN RAHIM) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:18:00 +0000

RECIPE: NASI LEMAK

INGREDIENTS:

Coconut Milk Steamed Rice

2 cups of rice
3 screwpine leaves (tie them into a knot as shown above)
Salt to taste
1 small can of coconut milk (5.6 oz size)
Some water

TAMARIND JUICE

1 cup of water
Tamarind pulp (size of a small ping pong ball)

SAMBAL IKAN BILIS (DRIED ANCHOVIES SAMBAL)

1/2 red onion
1 cup ikan bilis (dried anchovies)
1 clove garlic
4 shallots
10 dried chillies
1 teaspoon of belacan (prawn paste)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar

OTHER INGREDIENTS

2 hard boiled eggs (cut into half)
3 small fish (sardines or smelt fish)
1 small cucumber (cut into slices and then quartered)

METHOD:

Just like making steamed rice, rinse your rice and drain. Add the coconut milk, a pinch of salt, and some water. Add the pandan leaves into the rice and cook your rice.
Rinse the dried anchovies and drain the water. Fry the anchovies until they turn light brown and put aside.
Pound the prawn paste together with shallots, garlic, and deseeded dried chilies with a mortar and pestle. You can also grind them with a food processor.
Slice the red onion into rings.
Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 15 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.
Heat some oil in a pan and fry the spice paste until fragrant.
Add in the onion rings.
Add in the ikan bilis and stir well.
Add tamarind juice, salt, and sugar.
Simmer on low heat until the gravy thickens. Set aside.
Clean the small fish, cut them into half and season with salt. Deep fry.
Cut the cucumber into slices and then quartered into four small pieces.
Dish up the steamed coconut milk rice and pour some sambal ikan bilis on top of the rice.
Serve with fried fish, cucumber slices, and hard-boiled eggs.

Malay Food Variety

noreply@blogger.com (ATAN RAHIM) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 03:09:00 +0000

These Malay food are the MUST try:

1. Satay
This famous Malay food, meat-on-a-stick appears on menus from New York to Amsterdam. The secret of tender, succulent satay is, of course, in the rich, spicy-sweet marinade. The marinated meat; chicken or beef, are skewered onto bamboo sticks and grilled over hot charcoals. A fresh salad of cucumbers & onions are served together with a spicy-sweet peanut sauce for dipping.

Ketupat, a Malay rice cake similar to Lontong (compressed rice roll), is also an accompaniment to satay, great for dipping in satay sauce.

2. Nasi Lemak
My personal favourite Malay food – This local Malay food is rice steamed with coconut milk and served with curry chicken or beef, fried anchovies and sambal. Sometimes pandan leaves are added when steaming rice to give it the fragrant aroma.

3. Laksa
Thick rice noodles are served in a tangy fish soup/gravy. Not at all fishy, the soupy gravy is made with mackerel and lots of aromatic herbs. Fresh garnishing of shredded cucumber, lettuce, pineapple, onion and fragrant mint leaves finishes the dish. In general the term Laksa refers to Malay style laksa, sometimes called Malay Laksa.

There are slight variations in different parts of the country. The key ingredient is tamarind, used as a souring agent, giving it a tart tangy taste. This version of laksa from the ‘hawker food capital’ – Penang, is especially famous and well known as Penang Laksa or Penang Assam Laksa.

4. Soto Ayam
Soto ayam is a traditional Malay food, a dish of spicy chicken soup with vermicelli. The soup is yellow in colour due to the use of turmeric as one of its ingredients. Besides chicken, the soup is served with hard-boiled eggs, slices of fried potatoes, celery leaves, and fried shallots. Sometimes, slices of Lontong (compressed rice roll) are also added.

Traditional Dishes

noreply@blogger.com (ATAN RAHIM) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 03:04:00 +0000

• Nasi DagangThe dish is made by cooking rice and glutinous rice together, to which coconut cream is added once it is cooked. Nasi Dagang is eaten with its own specially made side dishes of tuna fish curry and a light vegetable pickle.

• Keropok Lekor / KepingA popular and the most visible fried snack in Terengganu, the keropok is made of fish meat, ground to a paste, and mixed with sago. Coming in two main different forms, the long chewy ones are called 'lekor', while the thin, crispy ones are called 'keping'. Keropok is best eaten hot with its special chili dip.

• Ayam GorengThis is a popular chicken dish. Simply meaning fried chicken, this dish is prepared by first marinating the chicken with various spices like turmeric and curry powder. It is then deep fried in hot oil and served.

• LaksamA delightful yet simple dish, the laksam is akin to the western pasta dish. Like the latter, it has both the flour dough and the gravy that goes with it. However, unlike the pasta, laksam is made using both wheat and rice flours, and the dough is steamed instead of boiled. Laksam's gravy is made of fish meat, which is boiled, pureed, and later mixed with coconut milk.

TRADITIONAL MALAY DISHES

noreply@blogger.com (ATAN RAHIM) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:42:00 +0000

Variety is the spice in Malay food. The traditional culinary style has been greatly influenced by the long-ago traders from neighboring countries, such as Indonesia, India, the Middle East, and China. Malay food is often described as spicy and flavorful as it utilizes a melting pot of spices and herbs.
Malay cooking incorporates ingredients such as lemon grass, pandan (screwpine) leaves, and kaffir lime leaves. Fresh herbs, such as daun kemangi (a type of basil), daun kesum (polygonum or laksa leaf), nutmeg, kunyit (turmeric) and bunga kantan (wild ginger buds) are often used. Traditional spices such as cumin and coriander are used in conjunction with Indian and Chinese spices such as pepper, cardamom, star anise and fenugreek. Seasonings play an important role in Malay cooking as they often enhance the food taste and flavors. Many of the seasonings are not dried spices but are fresh ingredients such as fresh turmeric, galangal, fresh chili paste, onions, and garlic. A combination of fresh seasonings and dried spices are normally pounded together to make a fine paste and cooked in oil. Fresh coconut milk is often added.
Rice is the staple diet in any Malay meal. It is often served for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper too. Most meals are eaten by using your fingers, and eating utensils are kept to a minimum. All dishes are served at the same time, accompanied by a refreshing drink. Fish is popular in Malay cooking, as with other seafood such as shrimps and cuttlefish. Beef and mutton are very popular choices but never pork as it is against their religious beliefs to eat pork. The other popular white meat is chicken.