ESL Blogs

This blog is an answer to Junco's Photo Challenge; September # 2 - Must Eat Dishes. Malaysians' favourite past time is eating, thus we have so many 'must eat dishes'. In addition, Malaysia is a melting pots of so many races and cultures and it reflects in our food. 

The 'must eat dishes' in Malaysia are:-

1. Satay

Satay is a skewered meats grilled on an open fire. The meats can be chicken, beef or other types of meats, but chicken satay and beef satay are still the most popular satay. Satay is served with peanut sauce and cucumber and slices of red onions as garnishes. Sometimes 'ketupat' is also being served with satay.

2. Lemang

Lemang is glutinous rice cooked in bamboo with coconut milk and cooked slowly in an open fire. Sometimes it takes nearly half a day for it to be cooked properly. Lemang is normally served with 'rendang'. 'Rendang' is a dry stew meats cooked with a lot of spices. It can be chicken rendang or beef rendang. Traditionally, lemang is served during the Eid Mubarak celebration, but nowadays it is easily available. Traditional lemang consists only glutinous rice with coconut milk, but modern lemang consists of glutinous rice with some black beans or even some lemang has cocoa flavour.

3. Roti Jala

Roti jala can be literally translated as 'bread net'. LOL Well, it's called 'jala' or net because it's a flat bread with a few holes or 'net like holes' before it is rolled. Roti jala must be eaten with some curry, normally chicken curry. Roti jala is normally served for afternoon tea. The modern variation of 'roti jala' is that it's stuffed with some beef or chicken.

4. Mee Goreng

The staple diet for most Malaysians is 'mee goreng' or fried noodles. We eat them as breakfast, lunch, dinner and sometimes supper. The Chinese influence in this dish is very clear.

5. Nasi Lemak

'Nasi lemak' or rice cooked with coconut milk is the most popular and favourite dish among Malaysians. As with 'mee goreng', Malaysians eat 'nasi lemak' as their breakfast, lunch, dinner or even late supper. 'Nasi lemak' can be served as the most basic, rice, fried egg, 'sambal, fried peanuts, anchovies and cucumber, or it can be served with more elaborate servings, rice, hard boiled egg, cucumber, fried peanuts, anchovies and chicken rendang or beef rendang.