FINDING A BALANCE THIS RAMADAN

“Iwill find time, no matter what!” exclaims busy TV personality Nur Affizza Azmi as she, and the rest of the Muslim population around the world, ushers in the holy month of Ramadan. Her full schedule as TV news presenter, host, and part-time model means that this petite 31-year-old doesn’t really have the luxury of time, especially time to spend with the family.

However, she confides that Ramadan is the perfect time to remedy that as she’ll be able to sit down and bond with the family during sahur (pre-dawn meal) and berbuka time (opening of fast at sunset). “I love cooking for my family, especially for my two-year-old son who’s started eating solid food now,” begins the young mother who’s here at the Royal Chulan Hotel in Kuala Lumpur as a special guest at an event called Puas-Puas Puasa, organised by the non-profit organisation, Raisin Administrative Committee, an advocate for the raisin industry.

The organisation is here to promote California Raisins and inform the public on how this humble snack can make for an ideal Ramadan companion, shedding light on its wholesome goodness and sharing creative yet easy recipe ideas to serve up for sahur and berbuka times.

Busy people no longer need to compromise on health and nutrition, especially during this fasting month, and raisins are the ideal ingredients to use when you need to prepare quick, energyboosting and nutritious meals.

With Nur Affizza being a busy working mother herself, it seems rather apt that she was chosen for this event. “When California raisins approached me, I didn’t think twice about coming on-board. Their target audience is working mums, so I happily agreed to be a part of it. It’s also quite interesting to incorporate raisins in dishes other than desserts,” she shares, smiling.

For this showcase, Nur Affizza came up with three recipes that use raisins as the main ingredient. “Before this, I only used raisins