INDIAN FOOD IN MALAYSIA, MASALA DOSA, CHINA TOWN, KUALA LUMPUR, DOSA, INDIAN FOOD

INDIAN FOOD IN MALAYSIA, MASALA DOSA, DOSA, MALAYSIAN STREET FOOD, CHINA TOWN, KUALA LUMPUR, 2016, INDIAN FOOD, Malaysian cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices found in Malaysia, and reflects the multiethnic makeup of its population.[1] The vast majority of Malaysia's population can roughly be divided among three major ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese and Indians. The remainder consists of the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, the Peranakan and Eurasian creole communities, as well as a significant number of foreign workers and expatriates. As a result of historical migrations, colonisation by foreign powers, and its geographical position within its wider home region, Malaysia's culinary style in the present day is primarily a melange of traditions from its Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and ethnic Bornean citizens, with heavy to light influences from Thai, Portuguese, Dutch, and British cuisines, to name a few. This resulted in a symphony of flavours, making Malaysian cuisine highly complex and diverse. Because Peninsular Malaysia shares a common history with Singapore, it is common to find versions of the same dish across both sides of the border regardless of place of origin, such as laksa and chicken rice. Also because of their proximity, historic migrations and close ethnic and cultural kinship, Malaysia shares culinary ties with Indonesia,[2] as both nations often share certain dishes, such as satay, rendang and sambal.Rice (Malay: nasi) was and still is the most important staple food in Malaysia. According to Indonesian-born food and cookery writer Sri Owen, there is some evidence for rice cultivation found in the state of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo dated 2300 BC, and about 900 years of history for the state of Kelantan in West Malaysia. Today Malaysia produces about seventy percent of the amount of rice it needs to support itself, and the rest is imported.[3] This is a matter of policy as the government believes that national resources can be used more profitably instead of attempting to achieve self-sufficiency with rice production; the prevalent attitude is that revenue generated from its industries enables the country to import up to half the rice it needs.[4] Nevertheless, the government is fully committed and involved in planning, allocating resources and managing subsidies for the rice farming industry. The state of Kedah is considered the "rice bowl"[5][6] (Malay: jelapang padi) of the country, accounting for about half of Malaysia's total production of rice.Kuih (plural: kuih-muih) are usually, but not always, bite-sized foods associated with the Malay and Min-speaking Chinese communities of Malaysia. In the context of the term being cultural as opposed to being physically descriptive, the concept of kuih may refer to a selection of cakes, cookies, confections, pastries and sweetmeats. Kuih may be eaten throughout the day for light breakfast, afternoon tea (a tradition adopted from the British), as a snack and increasingly as an after meal course. More often steamed or fried and based on rice or glutinous rice, kuih items are very different in texture, flavour and appearance from Western oven-baked cakes or puff pastries. Most kuih items are sweet, and may be classified and eaten as desserts, but some are also savoury. Kuih is an important feature for festive occasions and is traditionally made at home, but are now available for purchase from home caterers, street hawker vendors, market stallholders and specialist cafes, shops and restaurants. It is difficult to distinguish between kuih of Malay or Peranakan (also known as "Straits Chinese") origin because the histories of traditional kuih recipes have not been well-documented, and cross-cultural influencing over the centuries were commonplace. Even the word kuih itself is derived from the Hokkien/Teochew word 粿 (pronounced kueh or kway). INDIAN FOOD IN MALAYSIA, MALAYSIAN STREET FOOD, CHINA TOWN, KUALA LUMPUR, 2016, INDIAN FOOD