There’s a big demand for halal dumplings, says Muslim food maker

There is an increasing demand for halal traditional Chinese food among Muslims of various races, including Malays, in the country.

A home-based traditional Chinese food maker, Abdul Hariz Leong Abdullah, 62, said he received a lot of orders for his “bak chang” or beef dumpling during the Dumpling Festival yesterday.

“Our phones keep ringing the whole day (yesterday) because they want to have traditional bak chang.

“We managed to deliver to some of our customers. We are sorry to those whose orders we could not fulfil as it was such a hectic day,” he said.

Hariz is one of the few halal traditional Chinese food operators in Malaysia.

He and his wife Syahrain Teh Abdullah, in her 40s, started their home-based business in March last year.

The couple was motivated to market their own traditional Chinese food after they found it difficult to buy halal dumplings for their own consumption.

“I embraced Islam in 1989 and I had not eaten Chinese food since then as most sold in the market here are non-halal.

“There are only a few Chinese Muslim restaurants in Malaysia, but what I crave most is traditional Chinese food, the one that I had enjoyed in my childhood.

“So my wife and I decided to make the food ourselves.

“We took our grandmother’s recipes and made our own traditional food the halal way,” he said.

On their target market, he said he was eyeing Chinese Muslims.

“To my surprise, our customers are mostly Malays.

“It might be because they want to have a taste of traditional Chinese food and when they have found our products, they love them and keep coming back for more,” he said.

The couple advertise their home-based products through their Facebook page, Lolili’s Delights Halal Traditional Chinese Food and Bak Changs, which offers 16 products to their customers.