Abdul Jalil’s pulut panggang among crowd favourites at Sibu Town Square Phase 2 Ramadan Bazaar
SIBU: Mohd Abdul Jalil Hussein and his lot never thought that when they introduced their ‘pulut panggang’ here four years ago, it would become a big hit among those looking for savoury ‘ buka puasa’ ( break- of-fast) treats.
The 24-year- old trader said every year during the fasting month, their stall at the Ramadan Bazaar in Town Square Phase 2 would have customers queuing up for his family’s signature ‘ pulut’ (glutinous rice) wrapped in banana leaves and grilled over woodfire.
Each piece – either the plain variety or one with sambal filling – sells for RM1.
“We still maintain the RM1 price, despite the rising cost of ingredients.
“I think my mother wants to make people happy. Our profits may not be as much as we had before, but I think the most important thing is that we want people to enjoy our ‘ pulut panggang’ at a low price,” he told The Borneo Post here, adding that he and his four siblings have been helping their mother at their Ramadan stall every Ramadan over the past four years.
Abdul Jalil’s mother runs a food stall at Taman Harmoni. However, the ‘pulut panggang’ is only available two times a year – during Ramadan and also the annual Borneo Cultural Festival, which takes place here either in July or August.
“The ‘ pulut panggang’ is my mother’s specialty. She would start simmering the coconut milk at night before cooking the glutinous rice and wrapping the sticky mixture (in banana leaves) early next day.
“We will continue the work from her at 8am – we usually finish everything by 3pm. We then bring the ‘ pulut panggang’ to the stall where we grill them on the spot,” said Abdul Jalil.
For the young entrepreneur, the most difficult process in making the ‘ pulut panggang’ is actually finding the banana leaves.
“We cannot ‘book’ the leaves and our suppliers cannot guarantee us enough supply. With the weather being so unpredictable lately, supply of banana leaves is getting less and less.
“What we would do is to buy as many leaves as we can. It’s about making the effort – just because one supplier cannot supply enough banana leaves to us, doesn’t mean that we should not find more for our business,” he said.
Abdul Jalil also admitted that the business this Ramadan had been quite slow – he was not sure whether it was attributable to the bad economy, or the Gawai celebration coinciding with the fasting month.
“Still, I am hoping that the business would pick up soon after Gawai,” he said, adding that on average they would take home an average of RM500 from daily sales.
Apart from their signature ‘ pulut panggang’, they are also selling satay.