Malaysia is a place of culinary diversity, with Chinese, Indian and Malay influences.

I went back to Malaysia two weeks ago to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family. My dad is from Kuala Lumpur, and my mom is from Kuching, Sarawak.

I thought I share snapshots of a few traditional Malaysian foods I had.

KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur

Prawn Mee

Prawn Mee is egg and rice noodles in a savory shrimp stock accompanied with usually sliced hard-boiled egg, chicken shreds, prawns, bean sprouts, fried shallots, and sambal.

Char Kuey Teow

Char kuey teow ( Char = fried, kuey teow = rice noodles) is one of Malaysia’s top dishes. It is rice noodles fried with pork lard, dark and light soy sauce, chili, often de-shelled cockles, bean sprouts, Chinese chives, prawns, and egg.
It is a must-try!

 

Curry Laksa 

Curry laksa is a coconut-based curry served with a choice of egg noodles, rice vermicelli, or both. The one I ordered had bean curd puffs, fish balls, bean sprouts garnished with mint leaves, served with a side of sambal chili sauce.  

 

 

Kuching (snapshot was taken from my hotel)

Chinese style chicken curry

One can’t be in Malaysia and not try chicken curry. There are many varieties of chicken curry: Malay, Indian, Nyonya, and Chinese. Chicken curry paired with rice is heavenly! 

Ice Kacang

This is one of my favorite Malaysian desserts. It tastes way better than it looks. It is shaved ice drizzled with creamed corn, evaporated milk, condensed milk, gula Melaka (palm sugar), and red rose syrup. Underneath, you’ll find grass jelly, red beans, nata de coco, cendol, peanuts, and sometimes colored jelly and sea coconut. There are many variations now in terms of the ingredients. But I prefer the original flavor.
The ice kacang shown in the picture is the Kuching style ice kacang. It does not have as many ingredients as the one we get in Kuala Lumpur. But all in all, still good.

Nothing beats having ice kacang during a hot day in Malaysia.

There is an endless list of amazing hawker food. Unfortunately, these are the only snapshots I took during my trip. If you do travel to Malaysia, be sure to try these mouth-watering dishes. 🙂