Chapters
- 01. Basic Knife Skills
- 02. Banana Leaf Rice
- 03. Murukku
- 04. Thosai
- 05. Idiyappam
- 06. Naan
- 07. Tandoori Chicken
- 08. Palak Paneer
The earliest significant migration of Indians into Malaysia took place in the 19th century under the British reign. Indians were brought in to work in various sectors in Malaysia.
Similar to the Chinese, majority of Indians in Malaysia came from the southern regions of India especially Tamil Nadu. Subsequently, Indians from the northern regions such as Gujarat, Bengal and the Punjab were brought in as well.
Therefore, in Malaysia, both Southern and Northern Indian cuisine are easily found almost everywhere. Southern Indian cuisine tends to be spicier and widely uses coconut milk, chillies and mustard seeds. While rice is the centre of the southern meal, northern Indian cuisine replaces rice with bread or chapati and uses ingredients such as yogurt and ghee in its dishes.
Over the years, some of the Indian dishes in Malaysia has incorporated local characteristics in its dishes creating tasty and unique dishes. While there are many restaurants and stalls in Malaysia that serve Indian cuisine, it cannot compare to cooking the dishes at home and sharing home cooked Indian food together with family and friends.
Cooking not only has many benefits but it also teaches you an important life skill that is necessary to survive. There are a variety of cooking techniques that help bring out the many tastes, textures and flavours in a dish. Therefore, we encourage you to explore the different cooking methods that will take your dish to the next level. There are a many different cooking techniques for you to explore such as steaming, boiling, roasting and many more.
Basic Knife Skills
One of the important skill you must learn when it comes to cooking is knife skills. It doesn’t matter if you are chopping vegetables or herbs, learning the basic knife skills will not only keep you safe but get you the results you want. Some of the important things to keep in mind when using a knife is to:
- Always use a sharp blade to cut swiftly without strain
- Ensure that you have the right grip (wrap your fingers around the knife where the blade and the handle meet)
- Create a stable surface (place towel under chopping board to ensure good grip)
Some of the common cutting techniques are:
- Slice - To cut into thin and flat strips
- Dice - To cut into small squares
- Mince - To cut into tiny pieces even smaller than dicing
- Chop - To cut into medium size pieces
It doesn’t matter if you are cooking Indian, Malay or Baba Nyonya dishes, mastering the basic knife skills will help you produce better dishes in a safe way.
Let’s have a look at some of the famous Indian cuisines in Malaysia!
Banana Leaf Rice
Banana leaf rice is one of the south Indian traditional food that still remains till today. Indian people often use banana leaves instead of plates when serving food.
This main components of this meal are rice, vegetables and curry. It is common to serve three to four types of vegetables as part of the meal. You can choose the gravy of your preference. The common choices in restaurants are dhal, chicken and fish curry. In Malaysia, it is common combine all the choices of gravy (kuah campur) with our rice.
Apart from this, papadam, pickles, yogurt, rasam (soup containing various spices), mor milagai (dried fried chilli) and payasam (sweet desert) are also served. Salt is also provided to be mixed with yogurt. Sometimes, vadai is included to be eaten together with payasam. Banana leaf food contains various flavors such as salty, sour, sweet and spicy which makes it irresistible to many.
This meal is traditionally eaten using your hands and the banana leaf is folded inward after eating as a sign of gratitude to the host.
Click here to check out the recipe!
Murukku
Muruku is a traditional Indian food in Malaysia originated from South IndiaTamil Nadu and its name is derived from the Tamil word for “twisted” which refers to its shape.
It is made from urad dal and rice flour and are usually seasoned with salt, and sesame seeds or cumin seeds. Add some water into the mix and knead it into dough. The dough is then inserted into a mould to make it round and spirally twisted before being deep fried.
There are many varieties of this dish, which uses different type of flour. The most common ones are Kai Murukku (hand murukku) which is made by hand using a stiffer dough and pakoda murukku, a ribbon-shaped variety of this snack.
This snack is a must have during Deepavali celebrations and has gained popularity among the other races in Malaysia.
Click here to check out the recipe!
Thosai
Thosai is a south Indian cuisine which is usually served for breakfast along with various types of gravy such as dhal, chicken or fish curry and coconut and/or tomato chutney (savoury condiment).
In order to make Thosai, you must soak rice and urad dal (a type of lentil) in water for 6 hours. After eight hours the rice and urad dal are ground into a fine batter. The batter is then stored at room temperature to ferment overnight. the mixture is spread out evenly to form a thin pancake on a hot pan and is served hot as a wrap or folded in half.
This crepe-like Indian pancake can also be prepared with different ingredients such as suji flour and wheat flour and mixed with different types of spices according to each individual's taste. There are many types of thosai such as onion thosai, ghee thosai, masala thosai, egg thosai, margarine thosai, paper thosai and so on.
Click here to check out the recipe!
Idiyappam
Idiyappam or string hoppers in English, is a cuisine originating from south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.
The dough made out of rice flour, water and coconut milk is pressed into vermicelli-like noodles and steamed. You can also eat it with any gravy of your choice such as kurma or dhal.
It has become so popular in Malaysia that it is also known as Putu Mayam by the other races. It is usually sold together with palm sugar, brown sugar and grated coconut by mobile motorcycle vendors around Malaysia. Sometimes, you can even find it in the morning market (pasar pagi).
Penang has a variation of this dish which is the brown coloured putu mayam where mustard seeds are added to the rice flour. There is also a green coloured version that is prepared with pandan leaves (screwpine) extract which has an amazing aroma.
Click here to check out the recipe!
Naan
The Indian flatbread, naan is a north Indian cuisine which is made from a mix of flour, ghee, yeast, salt and yogurt.
The bread which is well known for its fluffiness with a slight crisp is cooked in a clay oven. It usually has a slightly burn crust and flattens out when its removed from the oven.
Naan can be eaten on its own but is often served together with dhal, mint sauce and garnished with onions for vegetarians. For those who eat meat, it is common to add tandoori chicken as it complements the dish.
This cuisine is not only found in north Indian restaurants but also “mamak” restaurants in Malaysia. There are many types of naan such as cheese naan, garlic naan, butter naan and so on.
Click here to check out the recipe!
Tandoori Chicken
This dish is well known in Malaysia and is available not only in north Indian restaurants but Mamak restaurants as well.
It is called tandoori chicken because it is baked in a clay oven which is referred to as tandoor. Before the chicken is baked, it will be marinated with coriander, chili, garam masala, yogurt and cayenne pepper are added with turmeric which gives it the attractive orange colour you are familiar with.
The chicken is the skewered and placed into the tandoor until its cooked. This cooking process leaves the chicken moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. It is usually served with naan or briyani rice.
Click here to check out the recipe!
Palak Paneer
This is a vegetarian gravy dish from the northern state of India, Punjab. It is widely available in Malaysia in north Indian restaurants.
Palak paneer is made using fresh spinach and paneer (Indian cottage cheese).
Spinach which is blanched and pureed is cooked with a variety of spices such as garam masala, ginger and garlic and simmered in low heat with paneer.
Cream, yogurt or milk is added to reduce the bitterness from the spinach.
Generally, Palak Paneer is eaten with typical Indian breads such as chapatis and bhaturas(fluffy deep-fried leavened sourdough bread).
Click here to check out the recipe!
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