Malaysian cuisine
A popular dish based on rice in Malaysia is nasi lemak, rice steamed with coconut milk and pandan leaves to give it a rich fragrance. Of Malay origin, nasi lemak is frequently referred to as the national dish. It is customarily served with "ikan bilis" or fried anchovies, peanuts, sliced cucumber, hard boiled eggs and sambal. Although it is often considered a breakfast dish, because of the versatility of nasi lemak in being able to be served in a variety of ways, it is commonly eaten at any time of the day. For a more substantial meal, nasi lemak may be served with fried chicken, curries, or a spicy meat stew called rendang.
Soto mie
In Singapore and Johor, Malaysia the most popular variant is "mee soto ayam" (chicken noodle soto). "Mee soto" is a spicy noodle soup dish that combines the Indonesian chicken broth known as "soto ayam" with thick yellow Hokkien noodles. The chicken broth is spiced with spice paste made of ground peppercorns, coriander, garlic, candlenut, galangal, red onion, turmeric, bruised lemongrass, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. It is a Javanese influenced dish, and quite popular in Singapore and Johor. Basically it is pretty similar with "soto ayam" (chicken soto) commonly served in Indonesia, with exception it is served with noodle instead of rice vermicelli. The origin of the "soto ayam" broth used for making "mee soto" can be traced to the Madurese migrant ethnic group who reside in the Indonesian city of Surabaya in East Java. The East Javanese immigrants from Madura and Lamongan has been settled in Johor and Singapore, bringing with them the spicy "soto ayam" broth dish, and replacing the rice dumpling ("lontong") with yellow noodle.