Malaysian Recipes

13 Malaysian recipes. Page 1 of 1. Compare ingredients and cooking times. Ayam Lemak Cili Padi (Malay Coconut Chicken with Bird's Eye Chili).

Asian Medium

Ayam Lemak Cili Padi (Malay Coconut Chicken with Bird's Eye Chili)

Bird's eye chili, shallot, and fresh turmeric are blended into the paste for this Malay coconut chicken, which comes out hot, pale gold, and brothy rather than thick. It simmers uncovered and gently, and stops well before reducing to a sauce, leaving thin liquid around the thighs. Fresh turmeric gives an earthy, slightly bitter smell as the paste fries, while the lemongrass is only there to perfume the broth and comes out before serving.

Prep 20min Cook 35min 4 servings

Rice Medium

Nasi Kandar (Penang Indian-Muslim Rice with Mixed Curries)

In Penang, nasi kandar usually means rice flooded with several curry gravies mixed together, a style called kuah campur. This version keeps it to a single coconut chicken curry with halved boiled eggs. The curry is deliberately left thin so it seeps between the grains, and the rice is cooked a little drier than usual so it can soak up that gravy without going soft.

Prep 20min Cook 35min 2 servings

Grilled Medium

Otak-Otak (Southeast Asian Grilled Fish Paste in Banana Leaf)

White fish is blended smooth with coconut milk, egg white and red curry paste, spread in a thin strip on banana leaves, folded up and grilled on both sides. While the leaf edges char, the paste inside sets like a firm custard and takes on a faint smokiness. In Malaysia and Singapore it is eaten with rice or as a snack on its own.

Prep 25min Cook 15min 2 servings

Soups Medium

Bak Kut Teh (Malaysian Pork Rib Herbal Pepper Broth Soup)

The name ends in teh, tea, but there is none in the pot; strong Chinese tea is usually drunk alongside. The broth is clear, yet the first thing you taste is the heat of crushed peppercorns, and the whole garlic cloves are soft enough to mash with a spoon.

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Prep 15min Cook 80min 4 servings

Noodles Medium

Asam Laksa (Tamarind Fish Noodle Soup)

Tamarind gives this fish broth its sour backbone, with flaked mackerel and rice noodles underneath and cucumber and mint on top. A finely blended paste of onion, garlic, and ginger forms the base and carries the chili heat. The mackerel is cooked and boned before it goes into the soup, so the bowl is easy to eat. Cucumber and mint add a cool, fresh finish to the hot, sour broth.

Prep 25min Cook 35min 4 servings

Asian Hard

Karipap Pusing (Spiral Curry Puffs)

Two separate doughs, a water dough wrapped around a margarine-and-flour dough, are rolled and wound twice so that each cut face shows a tight spiral. The filling for this Malaysian curry puff is a dry curry of chicken, sweet potato, and potato with a piece of hard-boiled egg. Deep-fried, the layers open and flake, and the spiral shows only when that cut face is kept on the outside.

Prep 120min Cook 75min 21 servings

Rice Medium

Nasi Kerabu (Malaysian Coconut Rice with Mackerel)

Nasi kerabu, a Malaysian rice dish, can be made with rice tinted by flowers; this one uses plain white rice cooked with coconut milk and lemongrass. Flaked grilled mackerel, cucumber, blanched bean sprouts and sambal are set around it separately and mixed in only at the table.

Prep 25min Cook 25min 2 servings

Noodles Medium

Char Kway Teow (Penang Wok-Fried Flat Rice Noodles with Prawns)

Penang hawkers built this dish for laborers who needed a cheap, filling plate cooked fast, and its flavor depends on wok hei, the charred breath of a wok heated until it smokes. Wide flat rice noodles, prawns, egg, bean sprouts and Chinese chives move through the pan in a few minutes, while dark soy and oyster sauce stain the noodles a glossy brown. Drying everything and lining it up within reach before the burner is lit keeps stray water on the noodles or prawns from dropping the wok temperature and steaming the food instead of searing it.

Prep 15min Cook 12min 2 servings

Asian Medium

Murtabak (Malaysian Stuffed Pan-Fried Flatbread with Spiced Beef and Egg)

Dough stretched paper-thin with oiled hands is wrapped around curried ground beef and beaten egg, folded into a square parcel, and pan-fried until both sides turn golden. The result is layers of crisp pastry around a moist, savory center. Unlike plain roti canai, this Malaysian stuffed flatbread makes a full meal on its own, cut into pieces and dipped in curry sauce or chutney.

Prep 40min Cook 20min 2 servings

Rice Medium

Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Pandan Rice with Anchovy Sambal)

Rice cooked in coconut milk with pandan leaves makes a rich, fragrant base for the fiery sambal served beside it. Around it go crisp dried anchovies, roasted peanuts, boiled egg and cucumber, and each bite can be salty, crunchy, cooling or hot.

Prep 20min Cook 30min 4 servings

Noodles Medium

Mee Bandung (Malaysian Johor Shrimp Tomato Gravy Noodles)

Somewhere between a soup and a sauced noodle dish, mee bandung from Johor in Malaysia covers soft yellow wheat noodles with a thick red gravy of shrimp stock, tomato paste, and chili paste. A starch slurry at the end gives the gravy enough body to cling to every strand, the texture that defines the dish.

Prep 20min Cook 20min 2 servings

Asian Hard

Roti Canai (Malaysian Flaky Butter-Layered Flatbread)

Stretched until the counter almost shows through, brushed with butter, and folded into a square, this Malaysian flatbread tears apart into thin, flaky layers. Right out of the pan, the bread gets a gentle clap from the edges so the folded layers separate before they set together.

Prep 40min Cook 20min 4 servings

Noodles Medium

Mee Rebus (Noodles in Sweet Potato Curry Gravy)

Mashed sweet potato loosened with chicken stock becomes a thick gravy ladled over yellow wheat noodles in this Malaysian dish. Curry powder and peanut butter layer spice and nuttiness over the potato's natural sweetness, and the result sits closer to a spoon-coating sauce than a broth. Mashing the potato while it is still hot keeps lumps out of the gravy. Halved boiled eggs and lime finish the bowl.

Prep 20min Cook 35min 2 servings