Malaysian cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices found in Malaysia, and reflects the multi-ethnic makeup of its population. The vast majority of Malaysia's population can roughly be divided among three major ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese and Indians. The remainder consists of the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, the Peranakan and Eurasian creole communities, as well as a significant number of foreign workers and expatriates.
A dosa, dosey, dosai, dosha is a thin, savoury crepe in Indian cuisine made from a fermented batter of ground black gram and rice. Dosas are served hot, often with chutney and sambar. Dosas are a common food in South India and North Sri Lanka.
Malay cuisine is the traditional food of the ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia, residing in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the Philippines as well as Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
Tamil cuisine is a culinary style of Tamil people originating in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and neighboring Sri Lanka. Meats, along with rice, legumes, and lentils, are popular. Dairy products and tamarind are used to provide sour flavors. On special occasions, traditional Tamil dishes are served in a traditional manner, using banana leaves in place of utensils. After eating, the banana leaves are then used as a secondary food for cattle. A typical breakfast meal consists of idli or dosa with chutney. Lunch includes rice, sambar, curd, kuzhambu, and rasam.
Singaporean cuisine is derived from several ethnic groups in Singapore and has developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes in the cosmopolitan city-state.
Penang cuisine is the cuisine of the multicultural society of Penang, Malaysia. Most of these cuisine are sold at road-side stalls, known as "hawker food" and colloquially as "muckan carts". Local Penangites typically find these hawker fares cheaper and easier to eat out at due to the ubiquitousness of the hawker stalls and that they are open for much of the day and night. Penang island. On February 22, 2013, Penang was ranked by CNN Travel as one of the top ten street food cities in Asia. Penang has also been voted by Lonely Planet as the top culinary destination in 2014.
Puttu, also called pittu, is a dish native to the Southern Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and parts of Karnataka, as well as Sri Lanka. It is made of steamed cylinders of ground rice layered with coconut shavings, sometimes with a sweet or savory filling on the inside. Puttu is usually a breakfast dish served hot with either sweet side dishes such as palm sugar or banana, or savoury with chana masala, chutney, rasam, or meat curries.
An appam or hoppers is a type of thin pancake originating from South India and Sri Lanka. It is made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk, traditionally cooked in an appachatti, a deep pan similar in shape to a wok. It is part of Tamil cuisine and Kerala cuisine found in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and in Sri Lanka. Appam is most frequently served for breakfast or dinner, often with a topping such as an egg.
Sevai, also called shavige, saemia and santhakai, is a type of rice vermicelli dish popular in India. While typically made from rice, varieties made from other food grains like wheat, ragi, and others can also be found.
Putu piring is a round-shaped steamed rice flour kueh (dessert) or sweet snack filled with palm sugar popular in Singapore. Commonly associated with Singaporean cuisine, it is usually made using stainless steel molds with a distinctive flower shape. It is a traditional dessert among the Malay community of the country.
Malaysian Indian cuisine, or the cooking of the ethnic Indian communities in Malaysia, consists of adaptations of authentic dishes from India, as well as original creations inspired by the diverse food culture of Malaysia. Because the vast majority of Malaysia's Indian community are of South Indian descent, and are mostly ethnic Tamils who are descendants of immigrants from a historical region which consists of the modern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka's Northern Province, much of Malaysian Indian cuisine is predominantly South Indian-inspired in character and taste. A typical Malaysian Indian dish is likely to be seasoned with curry leaves and whole and powdered spice, and to contain fresh coconut in various forms. Ghee is still widely used for cooking, although vegetable oils and refined palm oils are now commonplace in home kitchens. Before a meal it is customary to wash hands as cutlery is often not used while eating, with the exception of a serving spoon for each respective dish.
Khanom chin or Khanom jeen are fresh, thin rice noodles in Thai cuisine which are made from rice sometimes fermented for three days, boiled, and then made into noodles by extruding the resulting dough through a sieve into boiling water. Khanom chin is served in many kinds of stock: coconut milk, fish curry, and chilli.
Kue putu or putu bambu is an Indonesian kue. It is made of rice flour and coloured green with pandan leaves, filled with palm sugar, steamed in bamboo tubes, and served with desiccated coconut. This traditional bite-sized snack is commonly found in maritime Southeast Asia, particularly in Java, Indonesia, where it is called putu bumbung. Kue putu is usually sold by street vendors and can be found in traditional markets, along with other kues. Kue putu can also be found in the Netherlands due to its colonial ties with Indonesia.
Street food, as in other areas of India, are popular in Chennai, despite the common belief in India that street food is unhealthy. The idly sambhar is a popular dish, which is served as breakfast or dinner. Apart from regular South Indian street food, the city's streets are also filled with several North Indian street food outlets, most of them established by North Indian migrants themselves. Gujarati and Burmese are also available. Street food in Chennai is so popular that a game had developed based on the TV show The Amazing Race where contestants have to follow clues to street-food spots in the city.
Betawi cuisine is rich, diverse and eclectic, in part because the Betawi people that create them were composed from numbers of regional immigrants that came from various places in the Indonesian archipelago, as well as Chinese, Indian, Arab, and European traders, visitors and immigrants that were attracted to the port city of Batavia since centuries ago.
Puto bumbong is a Filipino purple rice cake steamed in bamboo tubes. It is traditionally sold during the Christmas season. It is a type of puto.
Acehnese cuisine is the cuisine of the Acehnese people of Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia. This cuisine is popular and widely known in Indonesia. Arab, Persian, and Indian traders influenced food culture in Aceh although flavours have substantially changed their original forms. The spices combined in Acehnese cuisine are commonly found in Indian and Arab cuisine, such as ginger, pepper, coriander, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and fennel.
Indian Indonesian cuisine is characterized by the mixture of Indian cuisine with local Indonesian-style. This cuisine consists of adaptations of authentic dishes from India, as well as original creations inspired by the diverse food culture of Indonesia. Indian influence can be observed in Indonesia as early as the 4th century. Following the spread of Islam to Indonesia and trading, Muslim Indian as well as Arab influences made their way into Indonesian cuisine. Examples include Indian biryani, murtabak, curry and paratha that influenced Acehnese, Minangkabau, Malay, Palembangese, Betawi and Javanese cuisine.
Kue putu mayang is an Indonesian Betawi string hopper dish made of starch or rice flour and coconut milk, then shaped like noodles. This noodle-like dish served with kinca in Betawi and Javanese cuisine, or with chutney or curry in Indian Indonesian cuisine.
