The atlas · A cuisine · Malaysia — the Malay Peninsula and northern Borneo, between the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea

Malaysian

Also Malay, Peranakan, Nyonya, Mamak

Malay, Chinese, Indian and Peranakan cooking side by side: sambal, coconut and rice, wok-fried noodles and flaky roti, eaten at hawker stalls and mamak shops at all hours.

Where it comes from

Malay cooking grew from the rice, coconut, fish and spice pastes it shares with the rest of the archipelago, and from the Strait of Malacca — one of the world's great trade routes, where Melaka rose as a sultanate and port in the fifteenth century.

Chinese traders settled along the strait over centuries, and those who married locally and took up Malay ways became the Peranakan, or Baba-Nyonya, whose cooking puts Chinese technique to Malay spice. Under British rule in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many more Chinese came to work the tin mines and trade, and many Indians, mostly Tamils from the south, to work rubber estates and railways.

Today the kitchens borrow freely from one another: Malay nasi lemak, Chinese char kway teow and roti canai from a mamak — Indian-Muslim — stall might come from neighbouring stalls. Singapore, which left Malaysia in 1965, shares much of the same food, and the arguments over who does it best.

Where in it

  1. PenangAn island off the north-west coast, and to many Malaysians the home of the best street food: Hokkien, Nyonya, Malay and Indian-Muslim stalls side by side.Char kway teowAssam laksa
  2. Kuala LumpurThe capital grew from a tin-mining town, and eats at mamak stalls open through the night. Kajang, just to the south, is famous for its satay.Roti canaiSatayCurry laksa
  3. MelakaThe old sultanate and port, later Portuguese, Dutch and British, and a heartland of Peranakan cooking — and of gula melaka, the dark palm sugar named after it.Ayam pongtehCendol
  4. IpohA tin-mining town in the Kinta Valley, known for its plump bean sprouts, silky hor fun noodles and white coffee — beans roasted in margarine, often said to have begun here.
  5. KelantanThe Malay north-east, bordering Thailand, with a cooking of its own: blue rice, budu fish sauce, and sweeter, herb-laden dishes.Nasi kerabu

How it cooks

Rempah
A spice paste of chilli, shallot, garlic and rhizomes, pounded or blended — the start of most Malay and Nyonya dishes.
Pecah minyak
Frying the rempah slowly until the oil 'breaks' and separates out — the sign it's cooked and won't taste raw.
Wok hei
The 'breath of the wok': noodles tossed fast over fierce heat until they catch and smoke.
Flipping roti
Oiled dough spun and slapped out paper-thin, folded, and griddled until flaky.
Charcoal grilling
Satay and fish cooked over coals and fanned hard, so fat drips and smokes.

Always in the kitchen

belacan (shrimp paste)dried chillishallotgarliclemongrassgalangalturmericcandlenuttamarindcoconut milkgula melaka (palm sugar)pandan leafikan bilis (dried anchovy)kaffir lime leaftorch ginger flowerlight and dark soy

Cook from it

Tonight, with what's good in October

Its classics

MalaysianNasi lemakRice cooked in coconut milk and pandan, with sambal, crisp anchovies, peanuts, cucumber and egg.No one here has made it yetMalaysianCurry laksaNoodles in a rich, spiced coconut curry broth, with tofu puffs, prawns, chicken, bean sprouts and a spoonful of sambal.No one here has made it yetMalaysianAssam laksaThick rice noodles in a sour, spicy broth of flaked mackerel and tamarind, heaped with pineapple, cucumber, onion, mint and torch ginger flower, with sweet prawn paste on top.No one here has made it yetMalaysianChar kway teowFlat rice noodles fried hard in lard over fierce heat with prawns, cockles, Chinese sausage, egg, bean sprouts and chives.No one here has made it yetMalaysianRoti canaiA flaky, chewy flatbread of dough spun paper-thin, folded and griddled with ghee, torn and dipped in dal and curry.No one here has made it yetMalaysianSataySkewers of turmeric-marinated meat grilled over charcoal, with a sweet, spicy peanut sauce, rice cakes, cucumber and onion.No one here has made it yetMalaysianKaya toastToast spread with kaya — a jam of coconut milk, eggs, sugar and pandan — and slabs of cold butter, with soft-boiled eggs and coffee.No one here has made it yetMalaysianNasi kerabuRice dyed blue with butterfly pea flowers, eaten with finely shredded herbs, kerisik, fish or chicken, budu and sambal.No one here has made it yetMalaysianAyam pongtehA Nyonya braise of chicken and potato with fermented soybean paste, shallots, garlic and gula melaka — salty, sweet and dark.No one here has made it yetMalaysianCendolGreen strands of pandan rice-flour jelly in coconut milk and gula melaka syrup, over shaved ice, often with red beans.No one here has made it yet

How it got here

1800s · from Southern China to PenangWok-fried noodlesChinese migrants, many of them Hokkien and Teochew, came to Penang and the tin mines of Malaya through the nineteenth century. Char kway teow is said to have started as a cheap, filling plate for labourers, fried in lard at hawker stalls.Char kway teow →

Cooked here

No one here has cooked Malaysian yet.