Much of the allure of Malaysian cuisine comes from its lavish use of spices, which include coriander, cumin, shallot, cloves, cardamom, fenugreek, and star anise.

A fragrant herb with an intense lemony flavor and hints of eucalpytus, it is an essential ingredient of traditional Malaysian laksa stews.

Extracted from either roasted or raw sesame seeds, sesame oil is used as a flavor enhancer at the end of cooking.

Used as wrappers or as trays to hold food (as in the rice dish nasi lemak), banana leaves also impart a subtle flavor and fragrance to the dish.

Widely used in Malaysian cooking, this spice is an eight-pointed dried pod encasing shiny black seeds that have a strong anise flavor. The whole spice is usually used to flavor foods and discarded before serving.

A staple of Malaysian meals, both fresh and dried noodles are very common. The most widespread types include: fresh yellow wheat noodles (hokkien mee); fresh flat rice noodles (kway teow); fresh laksa rice noodles; dried rice vermicelli (beehoon); and dried mung bean glass noodles (tanghoon), sometimes called cellophane noodles.