Think about how many kuih you’ve eaten in your life without ever asking a single question about them. The onde-onde from the pasar pagi aunty. The kuih lapis at every single Raya open house. The homemade seri muka that one colleague always brings to the office potluck — boasting it’s their great-grandmother’s secret recipe.
We’ve been eating our way through centuries of history and calling it “just kuih”. Turns out, there’s a lot more behind the edible comfort all Malaysians know and love.
So, What Even is Kuih?
Here’s the annoying thing about kuih: it refuses to be defined. It can be steamed, baked, fried, or grilled. Sweet or savoury. Rice flour or tapioca. Wrapped in banana leaf, or sitting in a plastic container from the mamak. Food writers have basically given up trying to pin it down by ingredient or method. At some point, you just know something is kuih — you were told so since you were five.
Not Just a Malay Thing
Here’s what a lot of us take for granted. Kuih isn’t a single culture’s invention. Think more of a group project where everyone plays a part.
Yes, the roots go back to Malay tradition. Long before baking powder was a pantry staple, women would sun-dry their flour for hours. All that effort, just so it would rise properly in the oven.
But the Peranakan community shaped just as much of what we eat today. Take kuih chang Nyonya, for example. It started life as the Chinese zongzi, tied to the Dragon Boat Festival. The Baba Nyonya community then remade it with local ingredients such as white pepper and cekur. The result? Something entirely its own.
Then there’s the Indian influence, hiding in plain sight. Take putu mayam, the delicate rice noodle strands topped with grated coconut and gula Melaka. It actually traces back to South India’s idiyappam, also known as string hoppers. Generations of trade and migration brought it over, and it slowly became Malaysian.
So next time someone insists kuih is “just Malay food,” you now have receipts.
The World Finally Caught Up
Back in July, MasterChef Australia put its Top 5 through a pressure test straight out of judge Poh Ling Yeow’s childhood. Kuih lapis, kuih koci, curry puffs — recipes passed down through her own family.
This isn’t even our first international moment. (RIP to Malaysia’s 2018 feelings, when CNN called cendol “Singaporean.”) But this one hits different. Global audiences watched contestants sweat over the same techniques our grandmothers mastered without ever needing a recipe card.
5 Kuih Every Self-Respecting Malaysian Should Know
Kuih Lapis – the rainbow-layered one that photographs better than most of us.
Onde-Onde – pandan, coconut, and a gula Melaka surprise that never gets old.
Seri Muka – glutinous rice and pandan custard, festival-table royalty
Ang Ku Kueh – the tortoise-shaped one, and yes, the shape means something
Putu Mayam – delicate rice noodle strands, dressed in grated coconut and gula Melaka
We didn’t need MasterChef to tell us kuih was special. But maybe it’s a good excuse to actually seek out the aunty at the pasar pagi, instead of strolling past her stall. Because one day, we’ll be the ones explaining kuih to our own kids. Let’s make sure that story comes from a kitchen, not a Wikipedia page.