Delicious and popular dishes from Malaysia you should try! ♥

SATAY

Satay is Malaysia's own version of a Western kebab

(and could also be a version of our very own Pinoy barbeque?)

~ only sweeter and somewhat smaller.

Pieces of softened, marinated meat are skewered on a thin stick made of coconut leaf (called "lidi" in Malay).

It is then barbequed over a tray of hot steaming charcoal until brown and tenderly moist.

A wide range of meats can be used (rabbit being one of them) but beef and chicken is the most common.

It is usually served with thick peanut sauce and "ketupat" ~ rice cooked in coconut milk, cut into cubes and wrapped into an attractive weave of coconut leaves.

I tried eating my first ever authentic Malaysian Satay when we had "high tea" at Corus Hotel Kuala Lumpur ~ I liked it! ♥

CHILI CRAB

One of the more famous crab dishes in Malaysia is Chili Crab.

This dish is said to have originated in Singapore and is a simple but hearty meal.

For this dish, mud crab is favored but other types of crab are also used.

The crab is usually steamed with ginger or lightly fried so the meat is cooked before it is stir-fried with thick gravy.

The gravy is made of a combination of chili and ketchup sauce, thickened with cornstarch.

Light soy sauce, garlic, and other ingredients are added to the sauce to give it more flavor before pouring in beaten eggs, giving the dish its signature look.

At the restaurant where my BestFriend Fed, her husband Don and I ate at, steamed buns known as "man tau" were served with the dish.

Before stir-frying the crab, the restaurant's cook/chef already made sure the shell was slightly-cracked, so that we, the customers, had an easier time getting to the meat part.

Hmm, good thinking. ☺

ROTI CANAI

Roti Prata is known as Roti Canai in Malaysia.

Roti Prata is a type of flatbread.

"Roti" means bread in Malay and the term "Canai" is derived from "Chennai", a region in India which was formerly known as "Madras".

In English, Roti Canai is sometimes better known as "flying bread", referring to the process of tossing and spinning the bread, before frying it.

If you're a tourist like me who visits Malaysia for the first time, you would really wonder what is a "Roti Canai" when you see it on a menu at a 24 hour mamak (hawker food) stall or any eating establishment.

Well, Roti Canai is a famous local food and is served nearly everywhere.

It is cheap and tasty.

I had the chance to watch a cook while preparing the Roti Canai I ordered and it was int'resting.

It started with the cook taking a piece of dough that contained eggs, butter, flour and water (which was slightly mixed with oil).

The cook then proceeded to knead and flatten the dough into a thin layer with oil.

She then twirled and spinned the dough with her bare hands to stretch it, repeating this action several times until she seemed satisfied with the size and the thickness of the dough.

(The cook explained to me, that the size of the dough could expand up to 6 or 7 times of the original size ~ depending on the number of times she twirls and spins it!)

The thin layer of dough is then folded into a square or a circle and placed on a hot girdle to fry.

Generous amounts of oil or butter is then sprinkled over the dough to give it a crispy outer layer.

I was surprised to see the cook slam the freshly-cooked hot pieces of Roti Canai between her hands!

She said it was done so that it 'loosens' the dough to make it crunchy and firm to the bite.

Roti Canai is commonly served with dhall curry (a sauce that is made from lentils with carrots, cucumber and potatoes), or chicken or fish curry.

Some (like first-time foodies like me!) prefer to eat it plain, sprinkled with sugar or condensed milk.

I had my Roti Canai with a nice cup of hot Teh Tarik ~ enjoyed it! ☺

ROJAK

Rojak is a fruit and vegetable salad dish commonly found in Malaysia.

The term "Rojak" is Malay for mixture, and is also used as a colloquial expression for an eclectic mix, and in particular, is often used to describe the multi-ethnic character of Malaysians.