Local Dishes

1. Nasi lemak

   Nasi lemak (rice cooked in coconut milk)

   Usage

   Malaysia's signature dish: coconut-milk rice with sambal, dried anchovies, boiled egg, cucumber and peanuts. A standard stall breakfast

   Grammar Note

   Malay compounds are head-initial: "nasi lemak" is literally "rice (that is) rich"

2. Nasi goreng

   Nasi goreng (fried rice)

   Usage

   Found everywhere, usually listed under a variant name: "nasi goreng kampung" (village style with anchovies, water spinach and bird's-eye chilli) or "nasi goreng tomyam"

3. Nasi campur

   Nasi campur (rice with assorted dishes on one plate)

   Usage

   A canteen style where you point at the dishes you want over rice — the easiest way to order without speaking much Malay

4. Nasi kandar

   Nasi kandar (rice with mixed curries)

   Usage

   Originated in Penang; the signature dish of Indian-Muslim (mamak) eateries, with several curries ladled over rice. Named after the shoulder pole (kandar) vendors once carried

5. Nasi kerabu

   Nasi kerabu (blue rice with herb salad)

   Usage

   From Kelantan and Terengganu. The blue comes naturally from butterfly-pea flowers (bunga telang); many stalls now use plain or turmeric rice instead

6. Nasi dagang

   Nasi dagang (coconut rice with fish curry)

   Usage

   An east-coast breakfast, mainly Terengganu and Kelantan: coconut rice served with a tuna-type fish curry (ikan tongkol)

7. Nasi ayam Hainan

   Hainanese chicken rice

   Usage

   A staple of Chinese Malaysian cooking: chicken poached and served with rice cooked in its stock, plus chilli sauce and ginger. Contains no pork, and many outlets are halal-certified

8. Roti canai

   Roti canai (flaky flatbread)

   Usage

   The classic mamak breakfast, served with dhal or curry gravy. With egg it is "roti telur"; the tall, thin sweet version is "roti tisu"

9. Murtabak

   Murtabak (flatbread stuffed with minced meat and egg)

   Usage

   Roti canai dough folded around minced meat, egg and onion. A mamak staple; the meat is chicken, mutton or beef — never pork

   Grammar Note

   Both "martabak" and "murtabak" are used; Malaysian shop signs normally use "murtabak"

10. Roti john

    Roti john (omelette-coated baguette sandwich)

    Usage

    A long roll pressed onto beaten egg with minced meat and onion and griddled. Common at Ramadan night markets (bazar Ramadan)

11. Sate

    Sate (grilled meat skewers)

    Usage

    Served with peanut sauce (kuah kacang), ketupat, cucumber and onion. At Malay stalls the standard skewers are chicken (ayam) and beef (daging)

    Grammar Note

    The form is "sate" (pronounced saté); some shops use the English spelling "satay"

12. Rendang

    Rendang (meat slow-cooked in spiced coconut milk)

    Usage

    Meat simmered with spices and coconut milk until dry. Usually beef (rendang daging) or chicken (rendang ayam); a Hari Raya festive dish

13. Ayam percik

    Ayam percik (grilled chicken basted with spiced coconut sauce)

    Usage

    From the east coast of the peninsula (Kelantan, Terengganu): chicken repeatedly basted with a spiced coconut sauce while grilling

14. Ikan bakar

    Ikan bakar (grilled fish)

    Usage

    Fish marinated or brushed with spices and sambal, then grilled over charcoal (arang); banana leaf (daun pisang) is sometimes laid on the grill. A coastal stall staple

15. Laksa

    Laksa (spicy noodle soup)

    Usage

    Varies completely by region: Penang "asam laksa" has a sour fish-and-tamarind broth, while "laksa kari" (curry laksa) has a coconut-milk broth. Worth asking which kind a stall serves

16. Mi goreng

    Mi goreng (fried noodles)

    Usage

    The mamak version, "mi goreng mamak", is fried dry with less oil. Standard Malay spelling is "mi", but shop signs usually write "mee"

17. Char kway teow

    Char kway teow (stir-fried flat rice noodles)

    Usage

    ⚠ Halal caution: a Chinese-Malaysian dish that at some stalls uses lard, Chinese pork sausage (lup cheong) or rice wine. It is halal only if pork and alcohol are omitted; halal versions are widely sold. Muslim travellers should ask whether the stall is halal

    Grammar Note

    A Hokkien loan; the Malay-translated form is "kuetiau goreng". Signboard spellings vary: char kuey teow, char koay teow, etc.

18. Bak kut teh

    Bak kut teh (pork rib soup with herbs)

    Usage

    ⚠ A pork dish and not halal. It is pork ribs ("rusuk khinzir") simmered in a herbal broth; Klang is regarded as its birthplace. Not a card to show to a Muslim host

19. Mi kolok

    Mi kolok (Sarawak dry-tossed noodles)

    Usage

    ⚠ A Sarawak speciality. Uses pork ("daging babi"), or chicken or duck for the halal version. In Kuching both versions coexist, so check before ordering

    Grammar Note

    Also spelled "mi kolo" or "mee kolo"; signboard spellings differ from shop to shop

20. Kari kepala ikan

    Fish head curry

    Usage

    An Indian-origin dish now established across Malaysia and Singapore, also served at Chinese, Peranakan and Malay restaurants. Usually simmered with okra and aubergine

    Grammar Note

    Modifiers stack to the right: "kari kepala ikan" reads curry ← head ← fish, i.e. "curry of the head of a fish"

21. Rojak

    Rojak (fruit and vegetable salad in thick sauce)

    Usage

    It is raw fruit and vegetables mixed with a sauce. The sauce usually contains shrimp paste (belacan / petis), so vegetarians should ask

    Grammar Note

    Also used figuratively for anything mixed together — "bahasa rojak" means code-mixed speech

22. Otak-otak

    Otak-otak (spiced fish paste grilled in leaves)

    Usage

    Mackerel (ikan tenggiri) blended with chilli, garlic, turmeric, lemongrass and coconut milk, wrapped in coconut or banana leaf and grilled or steamed

    Grammar Note

    "Otak" means brain, and the reduplicated "otak-otak" is the dish name. Malay reduplication marks plurality and can also mean "something like X"

23. Lemang

    Lemang (glutinous rice cooked in bamboo)

    Usage

    It is glutinous rice with coconut milk roasted inside bamboo. Sold at roadside stalls around Hari Raya and eaten with rendang

24. Ketupat

    Ketupat (rice cake in a woven palm-leaf case)

    Usage

    It is rice cooked inside a woven coconut or nipa palm casing. Served alongside sate and rendang, and a symbol of Hari Raya

25. Ambuyat

    Ambuyat (sago starch porridge)

    Usage

    Eaten in Sarawak, Sabah, Labuan and Brunei. Sago-palm starch stirred with hot water, twirled onto bamboo tongs called "candas" and dipped in sauce

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