Healthy Lunch Ideas Malaysia

Just because Malaysian cuisine is finger-lickin’ good, doesn’t mean it can’t also be healthy. And hey, we won’t ask you why you’re on a diet — we’ll just show you how to lose the pounds without going dull.

This is the dish that gym-goers fantasize about. Protein, fiber, and a healthy dose of blue-colored carbs? Yes, please, and thank you. The Kelantanese cuisine is prepared with herb-infused rice, boiled salted egg, fried fish or chicken, and assorted vegetables on the side. It’s yummy without the tummy.

You don’t know grilled fish until you’ve had Malaysian grilled fish. Marinated with turmeric, ginger, galangal, chili, garlic, fresh lime, and belacan (shrimp paste), this dish will make you ditch those bland, creamed fish fillets and move to Malaysia for real.

Rojak isn’t just local slang for “hodgepodge.” It also also refers to the hodgepodge of pineapple, cucumber, green mango, cucumber, jicama, and — depending on where you are in the country — cuttlefish, deep-fried tofu, or Chinese-style fritters. This healthy cocktail is typically tossed with a sweet shrimp paste with ground peanuts.

This is the reason Malaysians haven’t all become obese yet. Tender poached chicken in runny soy sauce served with rice and a bowl of clear broth? You’ll be coming back for more (without piling on the pounds). The cucumbers on the side will add to your daily fibre intake, too.

Alternately spelled “chapati,” this roti (bread) of Indian origin is typically eaten with calorie-laden curries, but you can always “health” it up by filling it with chicken kebab (for the protein) or eating it with plain yogurt. It’s delish either way.

If you’ve never gone to a kopitiam (coffee shop) and ordered this before, it’s time you did. The soft-boiled eggs typically come in their shells, and you’ll have to crack them open and eat with soy sauce and white pepper. It’s (affordable) protein in a cup.

Occasionally confused with bubur cha cha (another sweet dessert), this Nyonya dessert is made with sweet potatoes steeped and boiled in coconut milk, sugar, and pandan leaves. Banana and yam slices may be added, too. If you’re going for healthy starches, this is it.

This flavorful herb rice salad will make you forget you’re on a diet. Featuring turmeric rice tossed with kaffir lime leaves, shallots, basil, mint, lemongrass, wild betel leaves, and shredded coconut, this dish is all about variety without calories. Add a touch of sambal (spicy shrimp paste) and you’ll be faithful to your diet — and this nasi (rice).

Unlike other noodle soup dishes, this one’s high in fish and low in fat. The broth is typically made with fresh mackerel or yellowtail kingfish, and garnished with pineapples, mint leaves, and bunga kantan. Ask for extra fish and you’ll get your protein’s worth in this sour-spicy, tangy dish.

The Vietnamese aren’t the only ones who can roll it without frying it. Featuring shredded jicama, shrimps, omelette, and fresh lettuce rolled and wrapped up in super-thin, crepe-like rice paper, this wet, flavorful snack is usually cut into bite-sized pieces. No chance of you overeating here.

BUTTER PRAWN

KUIH BAHULU (MALAYSIAN EGG CAKE)

BLACK RICE (BLACK STICKY RICE)

PINEAPPLE TARTS

CASSAVA CAKE WITH SHREDDED COCONUT

ONDE-ONDE (ONDEH-ONDEH)

MINI SPRING ROLLS WITH CHICKEN FLOSS

ASAM PEDAS FISH

PICKLED CHILIES

CHICKEN CURRY

MEXICAN COFFEE BUN (ROTIBOY)

KUIH KODOK (MALAYSIAN MASHED BANANA FRITTERS)

CURRY CLAMS

PENANG CHAR HOR FUN

SHRIMP FRITTERS

CHICKEN SATAY

PEANUT SAUCE

SOTO AYAM

MEE GORENG

CALAMANSI

SWEET POTATO BALLS

SPICY GRILLED FISH

CHICKEN CURRY WITH POTATOES

SWEET PEANUT SOUP

BRAISED PORK BELLY IN SOY SAUCE

SESAME OIL CHICKEN

DURIAN MOONCAKE

NASI LEMAK

BEEF RENDANG

VEGGIE MEE GORENG (FRIED NOODLES)

HOW TO MAKE FISH BALLS

PENANG HOKKIEN MEE

MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY

CHICKEN RENDANG

SAMBAL BELACAN

MALAYSIAN BELACAN FRIED CHICKEN

LAKSA

PEANUT PUFFS

BEST-EVER PINEAPPLE COOKIES (PINEAPPLE TARTS)

SERI MUKA

PAN MEE (HAKKA FLAT NOODLE SOUP)

NASI ULAM (MALAYSIAN MIXED HERB RICE)

DEVIL’S CURRY

SPICY CHICKEN STIR-FRY (AYAM PAPRIK)

TURMERIC CHICKEN

BLACK BEAN SAUCE YONG TOW FOO

KAYA TOAST

KAYA (MALAYSIAN COCONUT EGG JAM)

CHILI CLAMS

MALAYSIAN-STYLE FRIED UDON

COCONUT AND CHILI

Malaysia’s top 15 foods

1. Mee goreng mamak

Mee goreng mamak.

This Indian Muslim dish is the complete package. Yellow noodles. Beef or chicken. Shrimp. Soy sauce, veggies and eggs. A bit of chili tossed in for an irresistible jolt.

Sounds simple, right?

Sadly, you can try to replicate this one at home, but it’s just not going to taste the way it did when you chowed down at that gritty Malaysian hawker stall.

2. Apam balik

This is the ultimate Malaysian pancake.

You haven’t truly experienced Malaysian food until you thrill your taste buds with this sweet treat.

A pancake-style snack wedded with the compact package of an omelet, apam balik is stuffed with more than a sufficient amount of sugar, peanuts and the occasional sprinkle of corn — it’s a dish that’s constantly being reinvented.

3. Nasi kerabu

Don’t let the blue rice put you off.

If the blue rice doesn’t spark your curiosity, the lines of people around the country waiting to order this favorite Kelantanese dish should.

From the state of Kelantan in northern peninsular Malaysia, nasi kerabu gets its eye-grabbing color from telang flowers, which are crushed and mixed into flour.

The aquamarine dish is topped with bean sprouts and fried coconut, then drenched in spicy budu, a fermented fish sauce. In true Kelantan style, you use your hands to dig into this one.

4. Ayam percik (chicken with percik sauce)

Delicious chicken.

KFC’s popularity in the region (and across Asia) over other fast food chains won’t surprise those familiar with ayam percik.

Basically, it’s barbecued chicken slathered in spicy chili, garlic and ginger sauce mixed with coconut milk. With the right amount of percik sauce, this staple Malaysian stall food packs more zing than anything the Colonel can muster.

5. Nasi lemak

Nasi lemak — food of a nation.

Some call nasi lemak Malaysia’s unofficial national dish. Everyone else calls it delicious.

Nasi lemak is basically rice cooked in coconut milk. But it’s the sides that matter.

Depending on where you are in Malaysia, it comes with a variety of accompaniments such as hard-boiled egg, peanuts, vegetables, lamb/chicken/or beef curry, seafood and sambal (chili-based sauce).

Nasi lemak is traditionally eaten for breakfast but these days people are ordering it any time of day.

6. Roti john

A Muslim trader prepares a Roti John during a Ramadan bazaar in Kuala Lumpur.

Whoever John was, it’s apparent that he preferred his sandwiches made with grilled minced meat and egg in the middle of slim bread, and drowned in a confection of condiments.

Mayonnaise, ketchup, barbecue and chili sauce — choose one or choose them all.

7. Rendang (beef, chicken or lamb)

It’s not a curry, OK?

Though sometimes erroneously called a curry, Malaysian food aficionados point out that this chunky cauldron of coconut milk and spices is nothing of the sort.

The difference is in how it’s prepared: slowly simmered (to let the meat absorb the spices) until the rosy liquid completely evaporates. A favorite, especially during festive seasons, rendang is found across Malaysia.

8. Kuih

Kuih is one of Malaysia’s favorite desserts.

Variety, variety, variety — that’s way to explore kuih, or Malay-style pastries. Small enough to snap up in a gulp and sugary enough to give you a modest jitter, kuih vendors are the most colorful stalls of all.

This kaleidoscope of soft, sugary morsels goes quickly — few pieces are left by the time daylight begins to fade.

9. Nasi kandar

Nasi Kandar is easy to make and tasty too.

Nasi kandar is essentially rice served with your choice of toppings, which commonly include curry, fish, egg and okra. Everything is laid out buffet style, though you can also order a la carte.

Found all over Malaysia, nasi kandar eateries are extremely popular, most open 24 hours and run by ethnic Indian Muslims.

10. Laksa

Laksa: Malaysia’s greatest export.

A staple of Malaysian cuisine, laksa eateries have been migrating abroad, making appearances in Bangkok, Shanghai and further afield.

There are multiple variations. For anyone who enjoys a taste of the volcanic kind, this spicy noodle soup can get you there in its curry form.

Some like it with fish, others prawns.

Our favorite is Penang’s asam laksa, in which tamarind features heavily (“asam” is Malay for tamarind) to create a spicy-sour fish broth.

11. Popia basah (wet spring roll)

A hefty sort of spring roll, popia basah speaks to those in need of the familiar crispy snack, but without the added oil.

Not to be confused with wet rolls found in parts of Vietnam, popia basah comes complete with its own regional-specific flavor. In place of lettuce, the Malay wet spring roll has turnips, fried onions and bean sprouts.

12. Bubur (porridges)

Bubur vendors are easy to spot. They’re the stall with the giant steel pots and matching ladles.

The contents of these coconut milk-based, sometimes sugary soups include a medley of vegetables and meats, and even dyed balls of flour and coconut milk. There’s no standard recipe in preparing bubur — different regions boast their own specialty.

13. Roti jala

Curry and crepe make the perfect foodie couple

Roti jala, or net bread, gets its name from the net-like formation that’s created by making zigzagging lines with flour on a large skillet.

The final product is folded up like a crepe and usually served with chicken curry. Roti jala is eaten any time of the day.

14. Cendawan goreng (fried mushrooms)

Deep-fried fungus doesn’t get better than this. One version, cendawan goreng, is typically peppered with chili or barbecue seasoning, giving it its own sass.

Eaten as an appetizer or snack, with a meal or while on foot, this one will have you imagining what else you can fry — and how else it can be seasoned.

15. Sambal udang

Sambal udang is a Peranakan dish, created by descendants of 15th-and-16th-century Chinese immigrants.

The Baba Nyonya people, also known as Peranakan or Straits Chinese, are mainly of Chinese descent, originally from Fujian province in southeastern China. They settled along the coast of Malaysia mainly in Penang and Melaka, as well as parts of Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. These days, they’re famous for their incredible food.

A popular Peranakan dish, sambal udang is all about prawns. Whole prawns are sent swimming into a delicious pool of sambal — chili paste — that’s flavored with prawn paste. The addition of tamarind juice gives it a tangy kick.

16. Murtabak

Murtabak will fill you up.

This pan-fried bread stuffed with minced meat and onions and dipped in spicy sauce is a meal and a half, only recommended to the famished.

Perfect murtabak is made with a robust amount of minced meat, so that the taste comes through on the first bite. So spicy-sour it’ll make your tongue curl!

17. Asam pedas

Nazlina Hussin, founder of the popular Penang cooking school Nazlina Spice Station, says it’d be outrageous not to include asam pedas on any short list of her country’s best foods.

A fish curry popular throughout peninsular Malaysia, it’s commonly made with freshwater fish or stingray.

Asam, which means tamarind, features heavily, along with ginger, shrimp paste, garlic, chilies and other herbs.

18. Lemang

Eaten with a meat or vegetable dish, lemang is glutinous rice mixed with coconut milk, which is cooked in bamboo.

The time-consuming process to make lemang starts by lining hollowed-out shoots with banana leaves. The bamboo is left over a fire to slowly cook the rice in a process known as tapai.

The result is sticky, wet rice that can, and regularly does, make a nice substitute for its plain Jane counterpart.

19. Otak-otak

Perhaps named by someone with an offbeat sense of humor, otak-otak translates as “brains” in Malay — but it gets this graphic moniker from its appearance, not its taste or ingredients.

This fish paste mixture of spices and diced onions is loosely wrapped in a banana leaf and barbecued over charcoal until the pinkish contents become warm and the leaves are slightly charred.

No fuss or frills when it comes to eating — picking at it straight from the leaf is the only way to do it.

20. Tepung pelita

A kind of kuih (Malay-style pastry), tepung pelita easily takes the cake when compared with its post-dinner relatives. At some point just about everyone has overindulged in this two-layered coconut milk-based sweet.

On the top layer, thick coconut milk with salt; on the bottom, a similar milky liquid mixed with sugar and pandan leaves to turn it green.

Served in bite-sized pandan leaf bowls, the packaging of tepung pelita makes it easy to fulfill those gluttonous desires.