BEEF RENDANG
A slow-cooked dry curry deeply spiced with ginger and turmeric, kaffir lime and chilis. (You'll find chicken, vegetable, and seafood rendang as well.) In Malaysian fashion, it fuses sweet, sour, and savory elements, the curry picking up a creamy richness from two forms of coconut and an elusive tang from asam keping, slices of a sour sun-dried fruit.
CHAR KUEY TEOW
Probably the best thing I ate in Malaysia was a late-night snack of char kuey teow—frankly, I can't imagine anything tasting better than rice noodles stir-fried in seconds over a smoking, sparking charcoal fire, taken to go and inhaled from a little paper parcel while walking down the street in Penang. The noodles join soy, chili, prawns, often cockles, the shrimp paste belacan, bean sprouts, and egg. Two things can distinguish really good char kuey teow from that which is merely delicious: one, the smoke of cooking over those charcoal fires, rather than over gas; and gracing the noodles with pork lard, which many (but not all) Chinese vendors still do. Penang will tell you that its char kuey teow is the best. I certainly haven't done a comprehensive tour (man, that sounds fun), but from my limited experience, I won't challenge Penang's claim.
MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY
A whole genre, rather than a distinct dish, you'll find curries of all sorts on Malaysian tables, a bowl of rice usually not far away. Malaysian versions tend to start with a rempah, a complex paste of spices and aromatics that's cooked together and forms the base of the curry; like so many of the country's dishes, they tend to make use of coconut milk, too. They're often served with…
OYSTER OMELET
Also popular in Taiwan, Singapore, and parts of China, the oyster omelet is just what it sounds like—whipped-up eggs and oysters, and in some regions, potato starch, which thickens up the batter. As may not surprise you at this point, it's often served with sambal.
POPIAH
Rolls of shredded turnip, jicama, and other crisp veggies, along with perhaps peanuts or egg or tofu,
all wrapped in a thin, pliant wheat crepe.
WON TON MEE
Cantonese in origin, but beloved in Malaysia. Here's another example of a dish that varies around the country. In essence, it's a dish of noodles with pork, and broth and won tons, but just how it fits together varies; in a dry version (pictured here), the noodles are stir-fried with thick soy sauce and pork lard, with more pork on top, and a dish of broth and dumplings on the side; alternately, the noodles are served in the broth itself. I loved the fatty-sweet dynamic of these noodles, sticky dark soy commingling with lard for a slick, savory sauce that clings lightly to each strand.
MALAYSIAN FISH HEAD CURRY
Just what it sounds like. (You have to love those little teeth peeking out… see them at the bottom?) A whole fish head is stewed with vegetables and, often in Malaysia, tamarind (for that sour hit) and coconut milk (keeping things rich). It's another dish that Singapore will claim as their own.
MALAYSIAN FRIED CHICKEN
Of all kinds. Seen here is the Nyonya-style inche kabin, spiced with turmeric and coriander before it's deep-fried, and served with—I love this—a dipping sauce of mustard, Calamansi lime, and Worcestershire sauce. (The British left a lot behind.) More conventional ayam goreng, crisp fried chicken, is so popular that it's on the
McDonald's Malaysian menu.
SAMBAL UDANG
I love this dish in that it proves how compelling the most basic Malaysian flavors can be. Sambal is that blend of chilies, the shrimp paste belacan, and Calamansi lime that's served with just about every dish and on just about every table; here, it's quickly stir-fried with shrimp to impart all of those flavors. Fresh shrimp are pleasantly cooling against the spicy sambal—which just makes me go back for more sambal, of course. You'll also see plenty of other things sambal-ed: squid, sting ray…
ASAM PEDAS
Another dish that makes use of the sour-spicy-fishy trinity. Fish and, usually, okra are simmered in a tamarind-based broth that, as in so many dishes, starts with a pounded spice paste of chilis and roots and belacan.
A slow-cooked dry curry deeply spiced with ginger and turmeric, kaffir lime and chilis. (You'll find chicken, vegetable, and seafood rendang as well.) In Malaysian fashion, it fuses sweet, sour, and savory elements, the curry picking up a creamy richness from two forms of coconut and an elusive tang from asam keping, slices of a sour sun-dried fruit.
CHAR KUEY TEOW
Probably the best thing I ate in Malaysia was a late-night snack of char kuey teow—frankly, I can't imagine anything tasting better than rice noodles stir-fried in seconds over a smoking, sparking charcoal fire, taken to go and inhaled from a little paper parcel while walking down the street in Penang. The noodles join soy, chili, prawns, often cockles, the shrimp paste belacan, bean sprouts, and egg. Two things can distinguish really good char kuey teow from that which is merely delicious: one, the smoke of cooking over those charcoal fires, rather than over gas; and gracing the noodles with pork lard, which many (but not all) Chinese vendors still do. Penang will tell you that its char kuey teow is the best. I certainly haven't done a comprehensive tour (man, that sounds fun), but from my limited experience, I won't challenge Penang's claim.
MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY
A whole genre, rather than a distinct dish, you'll find curries of all sorts on Malaysian tables, a bowl of rice usually not far away. Malaysian versions tend to start with a rempah, a complex paste of spices and aromatics that's cooked together and forms the base of the curry; like so many of the country's dishes, they tend to make use of coconut milk, too. They're often served with…
OYSTER OMELET
Also popular in Taiwan, Singapore, and parts of China, the oyster omelet is just what it sounds like—whipped-up eggs and oysters, and in some regions, potato starch, which thickens up the batter. As may not surprise you at this point, it's often served with sambal.
POPIAH
Rolls of shredded turnip, jicama, and other crisp veggies, along with perhaps peanuts or egg or tofu,
all wrapped in a thin, pliant wheat crepe.
WON TON MEE
Cantonese in origin, but beloved in Malaysia. Here's another example of a dish that varies around the country. In essence, it's a dish of noodles with pork, and broth and won tons, but just how it fits together varies; in a dry version (pictured here), the noodles are stir-fried with thick soy sauce and pork lard, with more pork on top, and a dish of broth and dumplings on the side; alternately, the noodles are served in the broth itself. I loved the fatty-sweet dynamic of these noodles, sticky dark soy commingling with lard for a slick, savory sauce that clings lightly to each strand.
MALAYSIAN FISH HEAD CURRY
Just what it sounds like. (You have to love those little teeth peeking out… see them at the bottom?) A whole fish head is stewed with vegetables and, often in Malaysia, tamarind (for that sour hit) and coconut milk (keeping things rich). It's another dish that Singapore will claim as their own.
MALAYSIAN FRIED CHICKEN
Of all kinds. Seen here is the Nyonya-style inche kabin, spiced with turmeric and coriander before it's deep-fried, and served with—I love this—a dipping sauce of mustard, Calamansi lime, and Worcestershire sauce. (The British left a lot behind.) More conventional ayam goreng, crisp fried chicken, is so popular that it's on the
McDonald's Malaysian menu.
SAMBAL UDANG
I love this dish in that it proves how compelling the most basic Malaysian flavors can be. Sambal is that blend of chilies, the shrimp paste belacan, and Calamansi lime that's served with just about every dish and on just about every table; here, it's quickly stir-fried with shrimp to impart all of those flavors. Fresh shrimp are pleasantly cooling against the spicy sambal—which just makes me go back for more sambal, of course. You'll also see plenty of other things sambal-ed: squid, sting ray…
ASAM PEDAS
Another dish that makes use of the sour-spicy-fishy trinity. Fish and, usually, okra are simmered in a tamarind-based broth that, as in so many dishes, starts with a pounded spice paste of chilis and roots and belacan.