Malay Traditional Food
Malay traditional food in Malaysia is naturally made by the
Malay people.In,www.santapanklasik.blogspot.com,we would like to share with the readers an article about a few most famous traditional food in Malaysia that we collect from various sources including news,magazines,website,people blog,etc.
Fish cracker keropok lekor
Malay as a race is divided into many
smalll "tribes" or ethnic groups (for example: Acheh, Bugis,
Mandailing, Minang, Banjar, Pattani or Jawa).
Malays in Peninsula Malaysia
originally come from all over South East Asian archipelago. Intermarriages
among these ethnic groups result in a rich food culture. So, each tribe has
their own spread of traditional food that is typical to their respective
villages.
Oh, what a spread they are!
Once Malaysia was formed, the
diversity of its Malay traditional food are recognized mainly by its
geographical location, according to the states. On the west coast, the northern
states are well known for their hot, spicy food. This is due to heavy influence
of neighboring Thailand.
The central part by its rich gravy and the southern states by their thick and
sour spicy sauces. The east coast states on the other hand, is more associated
with sweet, but rich fare with glutinous rice.
However, the true Malay traditional
food, in my opinion, should be prepared using only local ingredients. The
spices and herbs are grounded
manually, the meals are cooked over ancient-styled oven or stove, stirred
with traditional utensils, packed or served in tropical edible leaves, eaten
using the hand, following Malay
etiquette and table manners.
A myriad of kuih-muih (sweet and savory cakes)
originally from the Malay people. The Nyonyas
also claim some of these and they are known as
"Nyonya kuih" too. Even though they may look alike,
there is a subtle difference in terms of colors,
taste and also the kind of ingredients used.
Some of the more well known heavy
fares are: lemang (glutinous rice cooked in bamboo pole), ketupat (glutinous
rice cooked in pandanus, coconut or banana leaves) and nasi dagang (3 part rice
to 1 part glutinous rice steamed with ginger, onion and fenugreek).
Breakfast items included pulut inti
(steamed glutinous rice with sweet coconut topping), boiled tapioca served with
grated coconut, nasi lemak (rice cooked in coconut milk) and various sweet and
savory dainty Malay cakes (kuih-muih).
Fish crackers (keropok -- made with
sago and fish, prawns or other seafood) are popular snacks.
Cucur badak is made of sweet potato with spicy coconut filling
There are several types of keropok,
the more common ones are dried before frying but keropok lekor which originates
from the East Coast were boiled before frying. This type of keropok does not
have long shelf life (two days at the most).
However, the good news is,
unfinished keropok lekor, after boiling, can be sliced thinly and turned into
the normal dried keropok by drying the slices in the hot sun.
Ingredients used are mainly rice,
rice flour, glutinous rice and its flour, yam, tapioca, sago, sweet potato, bananas,
molasses, palm sugar and the ubiquitous coconut, prepared in its many forms.
And of course the local herbs and spices! Many, many types of them and they are
used in large quantities. Good cooks are never afraid to use large amount of
these spices.
This results in dishes which are
rich, fragrant and redolent with beautiful concoction of spices.
Since most of these tropical
products do not last long once they mature or ripen, the ancient cooks created
ways to preserve them by drying, fermenting, salting, smoking or turning them
into flour and pickles.
And here we are, moaning whenever
there is a power cut such that our freezer is not working! So, you see, Malay
traditional food mainly use local produce that can grow easily and abundant in
this land. Please bear in mind that wheat and its by-products were brought in
by the western colonial powers so traditional Malay food does not have them.
Therefore, leavened bread is not part of traditional food.
Instead, crepe-like delights like
"lempeng" are made with bananas, molasses and garnished with coconut
shaving. Tapioca are finely grated and used to make delicious sweet cakes which
are baked in a tin over and under smoldering coconut husks. Ahh, what a
wonderful smell emanating from those burning, smoky contraptions. I simply love
Malay traditional food.
These rice packets (ketupat) were woven using young coconut leaves. They are
then boiled for at least three hours before you get to eat them. This version
uses normal white rice.
Typical ways of cooking includes
roasting, frying, steaming, boiling and also stewing. Fuel used is made up of
local firewood or coconut husks and coconut shells. Making Malay traditional
food with these natural fuel do taste much much better than by using
conventional LPG and a modern stove!
Bamboos are shaped as skewers and
used to hold barbecued dish or meat. Like mentioned before, bamboo poles are
also used to contain food and then cooked. Usually, the bamboo is lined with
banana leaves before food is stuffed in, this makes the food smell more fragrant
as well as prevent the itchiness of the bamboo to contaminate the food.
Ketupat palas (made from leaves of a member of pandanus family). This
version uses glutinous rice.
Banana leaves are used to pack food,
to wrap meat or fish before roasting and also for serving. The leaves were
first smoked over fire to make them soft, otherwise they would break and would
not be able to contain the food. This also makes the food smell very nice.
Coconut leaves are weaved to make
the case for ketupat (rice cakes).
Only young coconut leaves are used
in this case because the older leaves are bitter and will affect the taste of
the food.
Yam leaves, banana leaves or rubber
plant leaves are used to wrap "tapai". Tapai is fermented glutinous
rice or tapioca which takes some acquired taste to enjoy. Old ways of
fermenting is used to make tapai and tuak. Tuak is a mild alcoholic drink made
by "strengthening" the juice resulted when making the tapai.
Another drink worth mentioning is
"nira". Nira is made by collecting the nectar of coconut flowers. The
nectar drips slowly into short bamboo tumblers tied around the the top of
coconut trees. The drink is really, really sweet. By cooking nira
slowly, it would turn into thick palm sugar.
The names of Malay traditional food
also implies the uniqueness of the meal. For example "nasi dagang"
literally means: traveler's rice. The nature of the rice is that it can last
for a couple of days thus giving it its name. "Rendang" means
"wok" and any rendang means
exactly that: the food is stewed over long period in a wok.
Ulam is fresh raw herbs to be eaten with sambal belacan
If you thought after reading the
description above that most traditional Malay food are pretty unhealthy, you
are quite right.
However, we do have our antidotes -
the traditional herbal food which are used concurrently to balance the
"heaty, windy or cold" stuff.
The Malays eat plenty of raw herbs
to consume with daily meals. These are called "ulam". Ulam
comprised of young shoots or leaves of various plants which are mostly eaten
raw or sliced thinly and made into salad or eaten with sambal belacan.
Most of them taste bitter, but in
the Malay culture, the bitterness is the cure. The Malays also believe that
daily consumption of ulam would make you look younger even though you
are actually aging. These herbs and raw leaves grow everywhere easily. They are
cheap and available. Modern science also has proven that some of these plants
do indeed contain high levels of antioxidants and also phyto-chemicals.
A lot of private homes have small
yards that are used to plant these herbs and spices. In Penang, however, there
is a special place called Tropical
Spice Garden at Teluk Bahang which showcases many herbs and spices native
to the island. Do try to visit when you are in Penang. I also live in Penang
and am now holding a regular traditional
cooking classes at the garden.
In this modern world, some of
traditional Malay food are indeed dying or have already been abandoned. It is
up to the Malays themselves to uphold the tradition. One of the ways is to keep
on asking your grandparents about the kind of Malay traditional food they ate
when they were young. Also, to observe the rituals performed in some ceremonies
which are very closely related to traditional food preparation.
