Malaysian Breakfast

by Kevin | 8 Jul 2019

Thinking of changing your regular morning breakfast routine? Bored of the everyday breakfast which consists of hard boiled eggs and bread? There are days when we do not have the time to prepare those super delicious breakfast meals as no one has so much time in the morning (especially for those working). Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day and you should have your breakfast king size!

Even though Malaysian breakfast dishes contain a high amount of calories but according to research it is better consuming higher calories in your breakfast meal as you’ll have the rest of the day to burn off those extra unwanted calories. I, every once in awhile like to pamper my loved ones with a very good and satisfying breakfast meal and nothing is better than a Malaysian breakfast dish itself.

Malaysians are lucky to have such a diverse culture and as a result we have so many breakfast options.I’ll be sharing some Malaysia breakfast recipes (local favourites) that you could make today!

MALAYSIAN Breakfast:
1) Malaysian Nasi Lemak
2) Roti Canai with Teh Tarik
3) Curry Puff (potato filling)
4) Apam Balik
5) Dosa (thosai) with chutney

1) Malaysian Nasi Lemak

Ingredients:
• Coconut Milk Steamed Rice
• 2 cups of rice
• 3 screwpine leaves tie them into a knot
• Salt to taste
• 1 small can of coconut milk 5.6 oz size
• Some water

Tamarind Juice
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tamarind pulp size of a small ping pong ball

Sambal Ikan Bilis (Dried Anchovies Sambal)
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 cup ikan bilis dried anchovies
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 shallots
• 10 dried chillies
• 1 teaspoon of belacan prawn paste
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of sugar

Other ingredients
• 2 hard boiled eggs cut into half
• 3 small fish sardines or smelt fish
• 1 small cucumber cut into slices and then quartered

Method:
• Firstly, just like making steamed rice, rinse your rice and drain. Then add the coconut milk, a pinch of salt, and some water. Next, add the pandan leaves into the rice and cook your rice.

• After that, rinse the dried anchovies and drain the water. Next, fry the anchovies until they turn light brown and put aside.

• Then pound the prawn paste together with shallots, garlic and deseeded dried chilies with a mortar and pestle. You MAY also grind them with a food processor. After that slice the red onions into rings. Now you must soak the tamarind pulp in water for 15 minutes. After that squeeze the tamarind constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.

• Finally, heat some oil in a pan and fry the spice paste until fragrant. Next, add in the onion rings. Then add in the ikan bilis and stir well. Next, add tamarind juice, salt and sugar. Let it simmer on low heat until the gravy thickens. Set aside.

• Now you can start to clean the small fish then cut them into half and season with salt. Deep fry. Cut the cucumber into not so thin or thick slices and then quartered into four small pieces. Lastly, dish up the steamed coconut milk rice and pour some sambal ikan bilis on top of the rice. Now you can serve with fried fish, cucumber slices and hard-boiled eggs and finallyyyy enjoy it!

2) Roti Canai with Teh Tarik

Ingredients:
• 1⁄2 tbsp salt
• 1⁄2 tbsp sugar
• 290 g wheat flour
• 200 ml water
• 2 tbsp oil

Method:
• Disolve salt and sugar in water. Next, mix flour and salt/sugar mixture evenly. Knead dough until smooth.

• Divide dough into 6 small balls. Prepare a plate and spread some oil on it. Coat each dough with oil and place them on a plate which had been oiled. Pour oil over the dough. Let dough rest overnight.

• Flatten dough and flip it several times until it expands. Lift the left side of the expanded dough and fold to the right covering 2/3 of the whole surface. Do the same with the right.

• Pinch the tip of the dough and gently pull the dough off. Swirl dough to form a circle and press it gently.

• Sprinkle some oil on the dough and let the dough rest for about 5 minutes.

• Prepare a pan heated at medium heat. Flatten dough once more then place it on the heated pan.

• Once roti canai turn lightly browns or crispy, remove it from pan and give it a light ‘clap’. Serve with curry, dhal, sugar or enjoy it plain.

Teh Tarik
Ingredients:
• 1 teabag
• 2 tsp condensed milk (sweetened)
• 250 ml hot water
• a small pinch of salt (optional)

Method:
• Steep teabag in hot water for 3-5 minutes. Pour tea into a large mug. Add condensed milk into the hot tea. Add a small pinch of salt(optional). This is to add some saltiness to the tea.

• 'Pull' the tea by transferring it from one large mug to another. Repeat it about 4-5 times. To make the tea frothier, ‘pull’ the tea several times as high as possible but be cautious. Increase the ingredients according to the number of servings.

3) Curry Puff (potato filling)

Ingredients:
Filling:
• 5 tablespoons oil
• 1 medium red onion finely chopped
• 2 teaspoon curry powder or meat curry powder
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 cup of finely diced chicken breast meat
• 2 large potatoes boiled and finely diced
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Pastry:
• 1 lb plain flour
• 5 oz margarine or shortening
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method:
• Make the filling first. Heat oil and fry the onions gently until golden brown. Now add the kurma powder, curry powder, chili, turmeric and fry gently. Next, add the chicken, potatoes, sugar, pepper, salt and cook for 5 minutes. Mix well and leave aside to cool.

• In order to make pastry, mix flour with margarine, water, salt, and knead well. Let it rest for 1/2 hour. Then cut the dough into circles (3 in) in diameter. Fold dough over to make a half circle and crimp at edges. Deep fry in hot oil until golden.

4) Apam Balik

Ingredients:
• 120 g plain flour
• 10 g tapioca flour
• 1/4 tspsalt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 50 g sugar
• 150 ml water
• oil

For the filling:
• 100 g peanuts
• 60 g coconut nectar sugar
• 70 g salted butter
• 1/2 cup tinned cream-style sweet corn (optional)

Method:
• Combine plain flour, tapioca flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir in water to make a smooth batter. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes.

• Heat a small “apam balik” brass pan (about 15 cm diameters) over medium/low heat. Grease the inside of the pan lightly by using a folded paper napkin dipped in oil. Avoid using too much oil or pancake batter will not cling to pan. Spoon enough batter into the pan and spread with a spoon to coat the base and sides of pan thinly.

• Sprinkle on about 2 tablespoons of the crushed peanut/sugar mixture and drizzle in about a teaspoon of melted butter. Cover pan and leave to cook undisturbed for 4 to 5 minutes.

• Remove cover and add about 1 tablespoon of sweetcorn (dotted around the pancake) or sprinkle on 1 tablespoon of grated coconut. Fold pancake over to enclose filling and remove from pan. Allow pancake to cool on a wire rack. • Repeat with remaining batter/filling. Best served warm.

5) Dosa (thosai) with chutney

Ingredients:
• 1 cup ullunthe (black gram that has its skin removed)
• 2 cups uncooked rice
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek
• 3 tbsp rice, cooked
• water as required

Method:
• In a vessel, soak the black gram for about 7 - 8 hours.

• In another vessel, do the same with rice and fenugreek.

• After 8 hours, wash the lentils and rice separately and keep the last rinse of water for blending the gram and rice. Now, add the cooked rice to the uncooked soaked rice.

• To blend, you can opt to mix both the grams and rice and blend in batches or blend them separately.

• When adding water for blending, be cautious as the batter should be thick.

• Keep it overnight and the next day. Then your fermented batter is ready. Note: The batter can keep for 2 days in the fridge.

• If you are preparing thosai for dinner, then soak it before going to bed and blend it the following morning and the batter will be ready by evening.

• To prepare the thosai, heat a non-stick pan and greese it with oil. Spoon out a large tablespoon of batter to the middle of the pan.

• Now using the back of the spoon, spiral the mixture out to the edge of the pan. Cook it on medium heat.

• Drizzle a little oil around the thosai.

• When it’s cooked, flip it over to the other side, drizzle a little oil and cook till done.

• Finally, fold it and serve with sambar or chutney.