1. Apam balik
You haven't truly experienced Malaysian food until you thrill your taste buds with this sweet treat.
A pancake-style snack wedded with the compact package of an omelet, apam balik is stuffed with more than a sufficient amount of sugar, peanuts and the occasional sprinkle of corn -- it's a dish that's constantly being reinvented.
2. Mee goreng mamak
This Indian Muslim dish is the complete package. Yellow noodles. Beef or chicken. Shrimp. Soy sauce, veggies and eggs. A bit of chili tossed in for an irresistible jolt.
Sounds simple, right?
Sadly, you can try to replicate this one at home, but it’s just not going to taste the way it did when you chowed down at that gritty Malaysian hawker stall.
3. Nasi kerabu
If the blue rice doesn’t spark your curiosity, the lines of people around the country waiting to order this favorite Kelantanese dish should.
From the state of Kelantan in northern peninsular Malaysia, nasi kerabu gets its eye-grabbing color from telang flowers, which are crushed and mixed into flour.
The aquamarine dish is topped with bean sprouts and fried coconut, then drenched in spicy budu, a fermented fish sauce.
In true Kelantan style, you use your hands to dig into this one.
4. Ayam percik (chicken with percik sauce)
KFC’s popularity in the region (and across Asia) over other fast food chains won't surprise those familiar with ayam percik.
Basically, it's barbecued chicken slathered in spicy chili, garlic and ginger sauce mixed with coconut milk.
With the right amount of percik sauce, this staple Malaysian stall food packs more zing than anything the Colonel can muster.
5. Nasi lemak
Some call nasi lemak Malaysia’s unofficial national dish. Everyone else calls it delicious.
Nasi lemak is basically rice cooked in coconut milk.
It’s the sides that matter.
Depending on where you are in Malaysia, it comes with a variety of accompaniments such as hard-boiled egg, peanuts, vegetables, lamb/chicken/or beef curry, seafood and sambal (chili-based sauce).
Nasi lemak is traditionally eaten for breakfast but these days people are ordering it any time of day.
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Nasi kandar restaurants offer a variety of meat curries and gravy served over white rice -- prawn curry is especially popular.
6. Roti john
Whoever John was, it's apparent that he preferred his sandwiches made with grilled minced meat and egg in the middle of slim bread, and drowned in a confection of condiments.
Mayonnaise, ketchup, barbecue and chili sauce -- choose one or choose them all.
7. Rendang (beef, chicken or lamb)
Though sometimes erroneously called a curry, Malaysian food aficionados point out that this chunky cauldron of coconut milk and spices is nothing of the sort.
The difference is in how it’s prepared: slowly simmered (to let the meat absorb the spices) until the rosy liquid completely evaporates.
A favorite, especially during festive seasons, rendang is found across Malaysia.
8. Kuih
Variety, variety, variety -- that's way to explore kuih, or Malay-style pastries. Small enough to snap up in a gulp and sugary enough to give you a modest jitter, kuih vendors are the most colorful stalls of all.
This kaleidoscope of soft, sugary morsels goes quickly -- few pieces are left by the time daylight begins to fade.
9. Nasi kandar
Nasi kandar is essentially rice served with your choice of toppings, which commonly include curry, fish, egg and okra.
Everything is laid out buffet style, though you can also order à la carte.
Found all over Malaysia, nasi kandar eateries are extremely popular, most open 24 hours and run by ethnic Indian Muslims.
10. Popia basah (wet spring roll)
A hefty sort of spring roll, popia basah speaks to those in need of the familiar crispy snack, but without the added oil.
Not to be confused with wet rolls found in parts of Vietnam, popia basah comes complete with its own regional-specific flavor. In place of lettuce, the Malay wet spring roll has turnips, fried onions and bean sprouts.
As word of its deliciousness spreads, laksa is poised for global culinary domination.
11. Laksa
A staple of Malaysian cuisine, laksa eateries have been migrating abroad in recent years, making appearances in Bangkok, Shanghai and further afield.
There are multiple variations. For anyone who enjoys a taste of the volcanic kind, this spicy noodle soup can get you there in its curry form.
Some like it with fish, others prawns.
Our favorite is Penang's asam laksa, in which tamarind features heavily ("asam" is Malay for tamarind) to create a spicy-sour fish broth.
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12. Bubur (porridges)
Bubur vendors are easy to spot. They're the stall with the giant steel pots and matching ladles.
The contents of these coconut milk-based, sometimes sugary soups include a medley of vegetables and meats, and even dyed balls of flour and coconut milk.
There's no standard recipe in preparing bubur -- different regions boast their own specialty.
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13. Roti jala
Roti jala, or net bread, gets its name from the net-like formation that's created by making zigzagging lines with flour on a large skillet.
The final product is folded up like a crepe and usually served with chicken curry. Roti jala is eaten any time of the day.
14. Murtabak
This pan-fried bread stuffed with minced meat and onions and dipped in spicy sauce is a meal and a half, only recommended to the famished.
Perfect murtabak is made with a robust amount of minced meat, so that the taste comes through on the first bite.
So spicy-sour it'll make your tongue curl.
15. Cendawan goreng (fried mushrooms)
Deep-fried fungus doesn’t get better than this. One version, cendawan goreng, is typically peppered with chili or barbecue seasoning, giving it its own sass.
Eaten as an appetizer or snack, with a meal or while on foot, this one will have you imagining what else you can fry -- and how else it can be seasoned.
Sambal udang is a Peranakan dish, created by descendants of 15th- and 16th-century Chinese immigrants.
16. Sambal udang
The Baba Nyonya people, also known as Peranakan or Straits Chinese, are mainly of Chinese descent, originally from Fujian province in southeastern China.
They settled along the coast of Malaysia mainly in Penang and Melaka, as well as parts of Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. These days, they're famous for their incredible food.
A popular Peranakan dish, sambal udang is all about prawns. Whole prawns are sent swimming into a delicious pool of sambal -- chili paste -- that's flavored with prawn paste. The addition of tamarind juice gives it a tangy kick.
17. Asam pedas
Nazlina Hussin, founder of the popular Penang cooking school Nazlina Spice Station, says it'd be outrageous not to include asam pedas on any short list of her country's best foods.
A fish curry popular throughout peninsular Malaysia, it's commonly made with freshwater fish or stingray.
Asam, which means tamarind, features heavily, along with ginger, shrimp paste, garlic, chilies and other herbs.
18. Lemang
Eaten with a meat or vegetable dish, lemang is glutinous rice mixed with coconut milk, which is cooked in bamboo.
The time-consuming process to make lemang starts by lining hollowed-out shoots with banana leaves.
The bamboo is left over a fire to slowly cook the rice in a process known as tapai.
The result is sticky, wet rice that can, and regularly does, make a nice substitute for its plain Jane counterpart.
19. Otak-otak (brains)
Perhaps named by someone with an offbeat sense of humor, otak-otak gets its graphic moniker from its appearance, not its taste or ingredients.
This fish paste mixture of spices and diced onions is loosely wrapped in a banana leaf and barbecued over charcoal until the pinkish contents become warm and the leaves are slightly charred.
No fuss or frills when it comes to eating -- picking at it straight from the leaf is the only way to do it.
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20. Tepung pelita
A kind of kuih (Malay-style pastry), tepung pelita easily takes the cake when compared to its post-dinner relatives. At some point just about everyone has over-indulged in this two-layered coconut milk-based sweet.
On the top layer, thick coconut milk with salt; on the bottom, a similar milky liquid mixed with sugar and pandan leaves to turn it green.
Served in bite-sized pandan leaf bowls, the packaging of tepung pelita makes it easy to fulfill those gluttonous desires.
Rojak -- not your average fruit salad. Veggies, shrimp paste and dough fritters are thrown into the mix.
