The Delightfully Tasty & Popular Food of Indonesia & Malaysia

Some of the really popular dishes in Indonesia, Malaysia & some other parts of S.E. Asia.

1. Gado-gado: Indonesian salad with slightly boiled, blanched or steamed vegetables and hard-boiled eggs, boiled potato, fried tofu and tempeh, and lontong, served with a peanut sauce dressing.

2. Nasi Goreng: Indonesian fried rice served with pieces of meat of your choice, served with sweet soy sauce.

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3.Bakso: Bakso is an Indonesian meatball, or a meat paste made from beef surimi. Often, bakso is served with yellow noodles and rice vermicelli.

4. Satay: An Indonesian dish widely popular across Southeast Asia, Satay is cured meat, usually beef or chicken, served with peanut sauce.

5. Beef Rendang: Rendang is piece of meat — most commonly beef — slow cooked and braised in coconut milk and spice mixture, well until the liquids evaporate and the meat turns dark brown, tender, caramelized, infused with rich spices. 

6. Nasi Campur: Nasi campur (Indonesian/Malay: "mixed rice", also called nasi rames in Indonesia) refers to an Indonesian dish of a scoop of nasi putih (white rice) accompanied by small portions of a number of other dishes, which includes meats, vegetables, peanuts, eggs, and fried-shrimp.

7. Mee Rebus

Mee Rebus is commonly thought of as a Malay dish, and it predominantly is, and should be considered so. What many are unaware of, however, is that the yellow noodles found in the dish are your typical Chinese egg noodles.

Usually a breakfast dish, one would typically find blanched egg noodles mixed with really what can be described as a smorgasbord of ingredients – hard-boiled egg, shrimp, chicken slices, boiled potato, spring onions, fried shallots, beansprouts – just to name a few. The dish is brought together by a thick, curry-like gravy which is part sweet and part spicy.

Gado Gado

Nasi Goreng

Bakso

Beef Rendang

Nasi Campur 

Mee Rebus 

Satay 

8. Nasi Kerabu

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.

9. 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.

10. Roti John 

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.

11. Nasi Kandar

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.

12. Nasi Lemak

Nasi lemak is basically rice cooked in coconut milk.

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.

13. Apam Balik

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.

14. Ikan Bakar

The direct translation of this dish means "burned fish."

You shouldn't let that turn you off. This is one tasty grilled bit of seafood.

After being marinated in the all-important sambal, the fish is placed on a banana leaf and grilled over a flame. 

15. Dal Tadka

Dal tadka is synonymous with Malaysian Indian restaurants.

Dal tadka is immensely popular in Malaysia. The Malaysian Indians are Southern India’s descendants who populated dal tadka to become an indisputable favorite food for all Malaysians, irrespective of race and culture

--Raja Mitra