Food in Kedah

Feast on mouth-watering delicacies and traditional gourmet offered by Kedah. Not only they are unique but it appeals to the whole wide range of food lovers.

Rice Delights

As Kedah is known as the ‘Rice Bowl of Malaysia’ and rice being the staple food in Malaysia, it has several distinctive rice delights that whets up any appetite. One of the local’s favourite is Nasi Ulam. It is actually rice mixed with various fresh raw vegetables and rare spices. Ingredients include ginger flower, dried shrimp, bird’s eye chilli, and cucumber and fruit julienne. It also has kerisik or known as toasted grated coconut. This is a very vital ingredient as it gives texture to the mixture and aroma to the rice. It also gets its share of lime juice and palm sugar gravy. It can be eaten like that alone or paired with meat or other dishes. It is usually eaten during the fasting month of Ramadhan.
Popular among people living in northern Kedah, the Pulut is one of their famous rice dishes. It is glutinous rice which is paired with fruits such as mango, durian and bananas. Aside from fruits, it could incorporate savoury side dishes such as sambal. Pulut Inti and Tapai Pulut are other variations of glutinous rice found here.

Laksa

The laksa is another popular dish among the people of Kedah as well as other states in Malaysia. The dish consists of thick rice noodles or rice vermicelli and is eaten with fish curry, cucumber slices and onions. It exudes the rich fish broth with spices and is slightly spicy and sweet.
It also has Laksam, a specialty also found in Kelantan and Terengganu. It is made with very thick flat white rice flour noodles in rich white gravy. The gravy is prepared from fish and coconut milk. Traditionally, laksam is eaten with hands due to the gravy’s thick consistency but now it is eaten with eating utensils.

Desserts

Kedah’s taste buds are more inclined to the sweet side hence desserts and sweet dishes are popular here. These sweet indulgences include Baulu and Dodol. These sweet cakes are made from flour, coconut and sugar.
Kuih Karas is also a popular dessert here. The crispy, sweet kuih that resembles fried vermicelli can be widely found at stall and markets around Kedah. Another sweet delicacy here is Serabai, a rice flour pancake laced with thin syrup made of coconut milk and sweetened with palm sugar.

Others

Traditional local delights include Gulai Nangka or known as jack fruit curry. The locals have a penchant for spicy food. Their dishes heighten their curries with the use of tamarind and sambals.
It is also popular with Sayur Kelado and Pekasam.
Kedah is also famous for its seafood. Grilled fish is one of the many local favourites. Fish choices include ikan terubuk, kembung, pari and keli. They are usually marinated in spices before grilled. You can try its chilli crabs, grilled squids or prawns. Salted fish and fish crackers are quite a delicacy here too.