Young Kuala Pilah entrepreneur fires up bahulu the traditional way

KUALA PILAH - Young entrepreneur Syahrul Idham Iskandar Nor is continuing his family's traditional recipe of baking kuih bahulu using the coconut husk method.

The 24-year-old Kuala Pilah native believes that the traditional technique of using coconut husks as fuel can revive traditions and even produce a tastier and more aromatic product that is hard to match by those with modern techniques.

Shahrul Idham said that to maintain the aroma of the 'legendary' bahulu, he also uses copper moulds which influence the taste of this traditional cake.

"We bake about 4,000 pieces of bahulu daily, and sell a container of 34 pieces for only RM15," he told Bernama recently.

"Apart from selling them in stores, we also sell on TikTok, and every day we will make deliveries by post around the whole state. Alhamdulillah, our ‘coconut husk’ bahulu is now increasingly well-received."

Syahrul Idham said that the kuih bahulu business has been passed down from his grandparents, in Jempol since 1982, and was later continued by his father in 2018 in Tanjung Ipoh, Kuala Pilah.

He is the third generation of this ‘legend’ bahulu business, and can earn a profit of between RM700 and RM1,000 a week depending on the conditions and demand.

He said his father and grandmother also ran a business selling various traditional kuih such as dodol, wajik, and bahulu sabut from their home in Jempol before opening a shop to conduct the trade more effectively.

Syahrul Idham, the fifth of six siblings, said that every day he uses around 800 eggs to produce nearly 4,000 kuih bahulu and obtains a supply of at least three tonnes of coconut husk for his weekly use.

"There are people who make kuih bahulu the modern way, using an oven, but even though this method is easier and can turn out the cakes faster and in larger quantities, it is not the same as the authentic way of baking them. By using coconut husks, there is a fragrant aroma that makes the bahulu taste delicious," he said.

Meanwhile, Syahrul Idham is grateful that his bahulu brand, 'Bahulu Bakar Sabut Wawa', named after his wife Norazwa Mohd Nor Hisham, 21, has been receiving many orders, especially for weddings and during the festive season.

A customer, Hasan Abu Kasim, 47, said that every time he drops off his child at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Kuala Pilah, his family will make it a point to stop and buy kuih bahulu from Syahrul Idham’s shop.

He said it is hard to find traditional kuih bahulu that is baked in this way, and it is reasonably priced to boot.

"The taste of this kuih bahulu is different from the ones sold in supermarkets as it is done in the the traditional method of making, thus the kuih is more delicious," he added. - BERNAMA