Foodies of various races making a beeline for Bugis delicacies
PONTIAN: Ismail Ibrahim has been whipping up two Bugis dumpling-like delicacies for the past 10 years, which are a hit among all races within the Tanjung Piai parliamentary constituency.
His burasak and lepat loi – staple food of the Bugis people – are selling fast during this period when campaigning for the by-election gets underway.
Burasak is made of regular rice cooked with coconut milk and wrapped in a cylindrical banana leaf pouch while lepat loi is made of glutinous rice and shaped like a triangle.
“I prefer using pisang nipah leaves, which have a good texture and make the food taste better,” the 59-year-old said when met at his restaurant, Burasak Abah, in Pekan Nenas here yesterday. Taking about six hours to boil the burasak and lepat loi, Ismail said he produced about 40 burasak and 20 lepat loi daily for his shop. Ismail said business had been fantastic during this period as people made a beeline for his restaurant just to tuck into his burasak and lepat loi.
“They are like ketupat but people usually eat them with ikan parang asam pedas; ours is different as we boil the fish first before cooking with asam pedas.
“The Bugis people usually eat burasak and lepat loi during special events such as Hari Raya. These will be the first thing they have for breakfast,” he added.
For Hari Raya alone, Ismail revealed that he received between 12,000 and 13,000 burasak orders from nearby districts.
Ismail noted that the food was not only favoured by the Malay community within Tanjung Piai, who are largely Bugis descendants, but enjoyed by other communities. The father of four said he sold burasak and lepat loi to preserve the Bugis tradition and promote it to the younger generation and other races around here.
“People in this part, including the Chinese and Indians, really love burasak and lepat loi that I cook and this makes me very happy,” said Ismail, whose restaurant business is run with the help of eight of his family members and children.