Top 5 Malaysia Cuisine – As the world knows, Malaysia is a country with variety of races and ethnics. Malaysian consists of 3 major ethnic groups with Malays the majority and followed by Chinese and Indian community. With this multi-ethnic, multi-culture and multi-lingual society, it is not a surprise that they have vast varieties of local foods from multi cuisine and not limited to fusions of them. This list is only popular local foods from these 3 major ethnic community. Without tasting them just to mean that you have not really experienced the true Malaysian.

1. Nasi Lemak

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Its name is a Malay word that literally means ‘rice in cream’. The name is derived from the cooking process whereby rice is soaked in rich coconut cream and then the mixture steamed. Sometimes knotted screwpine (pandan) leaves are thrown into the rice while steaming to give it more fragrance. Traditionally, Nasi Lemak serves in banana leaves as a platter with cucumber slices, small dried anchovies (ikan bilis), roasted peanuts, hard boiled egg and hot spicy onion sauce (sambal). Nasi lemak can also come with any other accompaniments such as chicken, cuttlefish, cockle, beef curry, beeflungs where all are spicy in nature. You could try this basically everywhere in Malaysia.

2. Satay/Sate

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Chunks or slices of dice-sized meat on bamboo skewers. These are grilled or barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire, then served with a spicy peanut sauce dip, or peanut gravy, slivers of onions and cucumbers, and ketupat (rice cakes). In Malaysia, satay is a popular dish especially during celebrations and can be found throughout the country. Turmeric is a compulsory ingredient used to marinate satay and to give it a characteristic yellow color. It can be found throughout every state in Malaysia. Besides restaurants that serve satays, one can find hawkers selling satay in food courts and night market. The famously known satay outlets are in Kajang, Selangor which dubbed as the Sate City in the country.

3. Roti Canai

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A type of flatbread or better known as roti prata. Roti means bread in Malay. The term “canai” derives from “Chennai”, a region in India which is formerly known as Madras. In English, roti canai is sometimes referred to as “flying bread,” a term that evokes the process of tossing and spinning by which it is made before frying on the hot pan. The ideal roti is flat, fluffy on the inside but crispy and flaky on the outside. Roti Canai is normally served with beans curry, fish curry or mint source. Some may like to dip it into sugar. One of the characteristics of roti canai and its derivatives is that it can be eaten with the hands, without the need for utensils. It is a convenient dish to consume, while being filling. This characteristic makes it a dish of choice as breakfast or as late night supper.

4. Char Kway Teow

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It is made from flat rice noodles, stir-fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, a small quantity of belacan, whole prawns, deshelled cockles, beansprout and chopped Chinese chives. The dish may commonly be stir-fried with egg and fishcake, and less commonly with other ingredients. When the dish was first served, it was often sold by fisherman, farmer and cockle-gatherers who doubled as char kway teow hawkers in the evening to supplement their income. Of all the notable versions, the Penang style of char kway teow is the most famous.

5. Rojak

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A fruit and vegetable salad dish commonly found in Malaysia. The term “Rojak” is Malay for mixture. Chinese rojak contains mainly local fruits such as mango, pineapple, pomelo with cucumber, prawn friitters mixed with spicy shrimp paste sauce. Penang is one of the famous place for this wonderful salad dish. While Indian rojak contains fried dough fritters, bean curds, boiled potatoes, prawn fritters, hard boiled eggs, bean sprouts and cucumber mixed with a sweet thick, spicy peanut sauce. Traditionally, rojak vendors use modified sidecar motorcycles as preparation counters and to peddle their rojak. These mobile vendors now use modified mini trucks which you could find a lot of them along the street.