Malaysian

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Nasi Kerabu (Blue Butterfly-Pea Rice with Raw Herbs)

The blue rice of Kelantan on Malaysia's east coast. The rice is cooked in water steeped with butterfly-pea flowers, and eaten mixed with finely cut raw herbs and vegetables, toasted coconut and fried fish or chicken. The blue is an anthocyanin, which turns purple when it meets acid — so no acid goes into the cooking water, and the lime and the sour sauces wait at the side of the plate. The herbs are never cooked and go on last.

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Mee Rebus (Yellow Noodles in Sweet Potato Gravy)

The noodle dish of Johor: yellow noodles under a thick, sweet brown gravy thickened by mashed sweet potato rather than a slurry, roux or reduction. Sweet potato brings its starch already gelatinised inside intact cell walls, so the rules for added starch do not apply; but the thickener is also the sweetener.

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Roti Canai (Coiled, Griddled Flatbread with Curry)

Malaysian breakfast bread: dough rested for hours submerged in oil, pulled out paper-thin, coiled into a spiral, pressed flat and cooked on a griddle. There are three ways to build layers in dough and this is the third — a croissant folds butter in, an apple strudel stretches and wraps once, and roti canai coils a stretched sheet into a spiral. Then, once cooked, it is clapped between the hands to break those layers apart on purpose.

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Curry Laksa (Coconut Curry Noodle Soup)

Malaysia's coconut curry noodle soup, built on a spice paste fried until the oil breaks out of it. Two opposite splits govern the dish: in the paste you force the oil to separate, and in the finished soup you must never let the coconut milk do the same.

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Nasi Lemak

Fragrant coconut-milk rice served with a sweet-spicy sambal, crispy anchovies and peanuts, boiled egg, and cucumber — Malaysia's national dish. Rice and a spread of sides come together on one plate, loved from breakfast to dinner.