World Speech Day Culture - Malaysian Food

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve collected another 3 videos of speeches for World Speech Day Culture – and all 3 are from Malaysia.

  

Anabelle Teh talks about her favorite Malaysian foods, i.e. nasi lemak, roti canai and nian gao 年糕 (kuih bakul). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nasi lemak is actually rice cooked in coconut milk that is traditionally served with anchovies, cucumbers, peanuts and boiled eggs, and served together with a spicy chili paste called sambal. Nasi lemak is considered Malaysia’s national dish. 

Roti canai is a type of flatbread, usually served with dhal and/or curries. 

Nian gao is a sticky sweet rice cake eaten during the Lunar New Year. It's basically a popular dessert made of glutinous rice flour and sugar. 

Nian gao is 年糕 in Chinese. The character 年 means ‘year’, and the character 糕 means ‘cake’, which shares the same pronunciation as 高 (gao), meaning ‘tall’ or ‘high’. So, the pronunciation of nian gao sounds like 'year high' (年高) – and so, nian gao symbolizes a high year, an increase in prosperity.

  

Lim Chien Cian shares about the Chinese celebration of the winter solstice, Dong Zhi (which means “Winter Arrives”) – it welcomes the return of longer days and the corresponding increase in positive energy in the year to come. 

Occurring only six weeks before the Lunar New Year, the festival has its own significance for many people, and is believed to be the day when everyone gets one year older. 

An important and auspicious recipe to make during the Winter Solstice is the tang yuan 汤圆, a traditional Chinese dessert made of glutinous rice shaped into balls – often brightly colored – that is served in a hot broth or syrup. 

The celebration may have begun as a harvest festival, when farmers and fishermen took time off to celebrate with their families. It’s not an official holiday, but remains an occasion for families to join together to celebrate the year that has passed and share good wishes for the year to come. 

 

Nurul Rafidah promotes her Bidayuh roots and she chooses three dishes, ikan bakar, bamboo chicken and kurat sisub.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ikan bakar is charcoal-grilled fish. The fish is seasoned with a spice marinade, then wrapped in banana leaves before being laid on a hot grill. Bamboo chicken is, as the name implies, chicken cooked in a bamboo tube. And kurat sisub is a traditional dish of wild mushrooms, chicken and rice. 

Incidentally, all three speakers are students at Sunway. 

#unexpectedvoices #worldspeechday #wsdculturemalaysia