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Basic Malay Ingredients

Basic Malay ingredients will be revealed, one by one here, on this page. Come, let me teach you what they are. They are not as mysterious as you would think.

In Malay cooking, we normally divide food into several categories: dishes that accompany rice, dishes which are eaten on its own, snacks, preserves and desserts. Here I would like to focus on basic Malay ingredients that you most likely need for making dishes that accompany rice. Here is the low down.

Belachan - "Malay" butter

If the French use butter generously in their sauces, the Malay use belachan (or can also be spelled belacan) instead. The smelly, humble shrimp paste, the butt of many jokes and idioms, is a must have ingredient in a Malay kitchen. We use shrimp paste like the Thai use their fish sauce. Except that we do not use it as a replacement for salt.

Fresh Herbs / Fresh Ingredients

Curry leaves
Ginger
Garlic
Onion / shallot
Chilies
Bird's eye chilies
Pandan leaves
Torch ginger (ginger flower)
Turmeric leaves
Turmeric Roots
Galangal
Freshly grated coconut
Coconut milk

Those listed above are the basic ingredients that housewives usually store in their fridge or plant in their yard.

Dried Spices / Dried Ingredients

Dried chilies (whole)
Dried chilies (soaked, de-seeded, strained and ground) or also known as "chili bo"
Cinnamon sticks
Cardamom pods
Star anise (whole)
Cloves
Mustard seeds
Candlenuts
Coriander seeds
Mixed fenugreek mix (fenugreek, mustard, fennel, cumin and urad dhal)
Meat curry powder
Fish curry powder
Turmeric powder
Chili powder
Shrimp paste block (belachan)
Liquid shrimp paste

Sugar / sweetener

Palm sugar
Jaggery powder
Rock sugar
White sugar
Pandan syrup

Souring agents

Tamarind
Tamarind apple
Artificial vinegar
Lime juice
Calamansi lime juice

Preservatives / Preserves

Kerisik (toasted, ground, grated coconut)
Pickled lime
Dried fruits such as raisin, sultanas and nutmeg
Dried fish
Salted eggs
Ikan bilis (dried white bait or anchovies)
Salt (coarse sea salt is preferred in traditional Malay cooking)

Sauces in cans or bottles

Sweet chili sauce
Various kinds of soy sauce, salty, sweet or "lemak"
Oyster sauce
Lime juice

These are enough to make up a feast using basic Malay ingredients!

Ingredients listed above are pretty cheap in comparison to other cuisine ingredients (for example European style cooking) as dairy products are hardly used at all. Throw in your protein of choice: meat, fish or even vegetables, you can create so many Malay dishes with the list. The ingredients can be found at grocery stores, supermarket and of course at the wet market as well.

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