Malaysian Chinese cuisine

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Penang-style char kway teow Penangckt.JPG
Penang-style char kway teow

Malaysian Chinese cuisine is derived from the culinary traditions of Chinese Malaysian immigrants and their descendants,[ citation needed ] who have adapted or modified their culinary traditions under the influence of Malaysian culture as well as immigration patterns of Chinese to Malaysia. Because the vast majority of Chinese Malaysians are descendants of immigrants from southern China, Malaysian Chinese cuisine is predominantly based on an eclectic repertoire of dishes with roots from Fujian, Cantonese, Hakka and Teochew cuisines.[ citation needed ]

Contents

As these early immigrants settled in different regions throughout what was then British Malaya and Borneo, they carried with them traditions of foods and recipes that were particularly identified with their origins in China, which gradually became infused with the characteristics of their new home locale in Malaysia while remaining distinctively Chinese.[ citation needed ] For example, Hainanese chicken rice is usually flavoured with tropical pandan leaves and served with chilli sauce for dipping, and tastes unlike the typical chicken dishes found in Hainan Island itself. Some of these foods and recipes became closely associated with a specific city, town or village, eventually developing iconic status and culminating in a proliferation of nationwide popularity in the present day.[ citation needed ]

Chinese food is especially prominent in areas with concentrated Chinese communities, at roadside stalls, hawker centres and kopitiam, as well as smart cafes and upmarket restaurants throughout the nation.[ citation needed ] Many Chinese dishes have pork as a component ingredient, but chicken is available as a substitution for Muslim customers from the wider community, and some Chinese restaurants are even halal-certified.[ citation needed ]

List of dishes found in Malaysian Chinese cuisine

Fish ball with rice vermicelli FishBallVermicelli.JPG
Fish ball with rice vermicelli
Penang-style chee cheong fun Chee cheong fun.jpg
Penang-style chee cheong fun
Curry mee. Malaysian noodles-Curry Mee-01.jpg
Curry mee.
A bowl of Penang Hokkien mee Penang Hokkien Prawn Noodles.JPG
A bowl of Penang Hokkien mee
Claypot chicken rice Claypot rice xx.JPG
Claypot chicken rice
Pan Mee as served in Malaysia. Ban mian.jpg
Pan Mee as served in Malaysia.
Tau sar pneah, also known as Tambun pneah, from Penang Tam bun peah.jpg
Tau sar pneah, also known as Tambun pneah, from Penang
Wonton Mee Peixin86 wonton mee.JPG
Wonton Mee
The tossing of yee sang Yeesang.JPG
The tossing of yee sang

Chinese guo

Chinese kuih, written as "guo" (粿) or sometimes as "gao" (糕), are usually made from ground rice flours. Many of the kue are made especially for important festivities such as the Qingming Festival or Chinese New Year, however many others are consumed as main meals or snack on a daily basis. Example of these kue include: [6]

Many Chinese kue require the use of a Kue mould similar to that use in mooncakes, which is either carved out of wood or made of plastics. Kue moulds with turtles are ubiquitous, though moulds of peaches are usually quite common. Red coloured turtle kue are known especially as "Ang ku kueh"/"Red Tortoise Cake" (紅龜粿). Since many Chinese no longer make kue at home, these moulds have become less common in many kitchens. [7]

Desserts and sweets

Vegetarian cuisine

Over 80% of Malaysian Chinese identify themselves as Buddhists, and some follow a vegetarian diet at least some of the time. Some Chinese restaurants offer an exclusively vegetarian menu (Chinese : 素食, 斎) featuring Chinese dishes which resemble meat dishes in look and even taste, like "roast pork", fried "fish" with "skin" and "bones", and "chicken drumsticks" complete with a "bone".[ citation needed ] These vegetarian restaurants are run by proprietors who abstain from consumption of animal products as well as strong tasting vegetables and spices as way of life for religious reasons, and are essentially vegan. The meat analogues used are often locally produced as opposed to imported, and are made solely from ingredients like soy, gluten, mushrooms and tuber vegetables. Buddhist vegetarian restaurants are likely to be found in areas with a high concentration of Chinese, and tend to be especially busy on certain festive days where many Buddhists temporarily adopt a strict vegetarian diet for at least a day.[ citation needed ]

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<i>Bakmi</i> Indonesian noodles with meat

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Char kway teow</span> Southeast Asian rice noodle dish

Char kway teow is a stir-fried rice noodle dish from Maritime Southeast Asia of southern Chinese origin. In Hokkien and Teochew, char means 'stir-fried' and kway teow refers to flat rice noodles. It is made from flat rice noodles or kway teow of approximately 1 cm or about 0.5 cm in width, stir-fried over very high heat with garlic, light and dark soy sauce, chili paste, whole prawns, shelled blood cockles, chopped Chinese chives, slices of Chinese sausage, and bean sprouts. Other common ingredients include fishcake and belachan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wonton noodles</span> Cantonese noodle dish

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