Malaysian Cuisine

Malaysian Cuisine

A popular dish based on rice in Malaysia is nasi lemak: rice steamed with coconut milk to give it a rich fragrance, and served with fried anchovies, peanuts, sliced cucumber, hard boiled eggs and a spicy chilli paste known as sambal. For a more substantial meal, nasi lemak can also be served with a choice of curries, or a spicy meat stew called rendang. Of Malay origin, nasi lemak is often called the national dish. Although it is traditionally a breakfast dish, because of the versatility of nasi lemak in being able to be served in a variety of ways, it is now often eaten at any time of the day. The Malaysian Indian variety of the sambal tends to be a bit more spicy, and the Malay sambal in a nasi lemak tends to be a bit sweeter. Nasi lemak should not be confused with nasi dagang, which is sold on the east coast of Malaysia — Terengganu and Kelantan — although both nasi lemak and nasi dagang can usually be found sold side-by-side for breakfast.