- Bergedel – a minced beef and potato patty deep fried to a golden brown.
- Sayur pucuk masak lemak – Fern fronds cooked in coconut milk and turmeric.
Another variety uses the sweet potato leaf.
- Ikan masak lemak – a mild fish curry cooked in coconut milk and turmeric,
which gives the dish its distinct yellow colour.
- Ayam ros – Forget the modern stalls with the electric stove. The best ayam ros (roasted chicken) is made traditionally. A whole chicken marinated in turmeric and spices is roasted over a wood fire, which imparts a smoky flavour to the meat.
- Parjeri – pienapple or brinjals cooked in a thick and sweet
kerisik-flavoured sauce.
- Gulai masam – skate or mackerel cooked in a sourish stock
- Ikan panggang – roasted skate eaten with a hot and sourish dip made with tamarinds,
cili padi and onions
- Popiah – the Malay/Mamak variety is different from the Chinese. This variation is
sweeter and spicier and not sopping wet like the Chinese kind.
- Gado-gado – deep fried prawn fritters and taukua served with sweet peanut sauce.
Usually eaten at tea time.
- Kueh keria – Resembles a doughnut. Made from sweet potato which is first deep fried
and then soaked in sugar syrup and air dried before eating.
- Kueh lopis – Glutinous rice patty coloured bright green, coated with grated coconut
and served with gula melaka syrup.
- Lepat pisang – Steamed mashed banana with grated coconut filling.
- Cucuk badak – Deep fried flour pattie with sambal prawn filling. Sweet savoury.
- Pulut udang – Glutinous rice with sambal prawn filling roasted over a charcoal stove
until slighty burnt.
- Seri muka – Glutinous rice topped with rich kaya. The mark of a well made seri muka
is the softness of the kaya topping, which should be creamy but not runny.
- Ulam – fresh greens like cucumber slices, raw petai, boiled cashew leaves, boiled long beans, fresh cabbage and boiled papaya leaves go into this Malay style
salad. Eaten with sambal belacan.
- Nasi minyak – Note that the translation of this dish is not, as expected, oily rice
but scented rice. Nasi minyak is rice cooked with butter, ginger, coconut milk, spices,
raisins and almonds. Very popular at weddings and official functions. When an elder
Malay asks a young person when she or he is going to serve nasi minyak, he really
means to ask when they are getting married!
Our exotic local cuisines for Malay cuisine, Chinese gourmet and Indian Cookery
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