THE signboard over her stall read: Roti Bakar Kacang Phool Penang, The 1st, The One & Only in Penang – Est 2015.
It was almost eight years ago when Nasirah Sharif started selling kacang phool, a Middle Eastern dish, at a stall in Kompleks Desiraan Tanjung in Tanjung Tokong, Penang.
She said phool comes from the Arabic word, ful, which means beans.
“It is largely consumed by the Ethiopians and Egyptians; the meat is rather expensive, so they have to replace it with beans,” Nasirah, 46, told Buletin Mutiara during an interview at her stall recently.
Business was sluggish at the start because kacang phool was an uncommon dish to the locals and the hawker centre where her stall, Nazzeeras, was located, was a ‘dead’ place for want of stall operators.
“As it is a traditional Middle Eastern dish, it is not something that the locals will enjoy or appreciate.
“I have to come out with my own version, adding my own spices and curry to give it a ‘Penang flavour’,” she said.
Kacang phool set is the favourite on the menu with her regular customers.
It is basically made of beans cooked with minced chicken or minced beef, spices, tomatoes and curry, and topped with a sunny side up egg or half-boiled egg.
Nasirah then garnishes the dish with chopped onions, slice chili and lime.
Nothing goes better with it than thick slices of ‘hailam’ bread, which you can choose from a variety of toast styles – butter toast, garlic toast, cheese toast, French toast or garlic cheese.
“The sourness of the lime, the sweetness of the onions and the spiciness of the chili greatly enhance the customer’s taste buds.
“The best way to eat it is to stir everything together before you dip the bread into the kacang phool sauce.
“It’s a very balanced meal for those who are health conscious or on diet. This is a complete meal; it is a bowl of complete protein, served with the ‘hailam’ (Hainanese) bread.
“It is actually a meal, not just a breakfast. Our perception of roti (bread) is something we only eat for breakfast. Actually, it is a menu you can enjoy throughout the day.
“Our ‘hailam’ bread, baked by our partner, does not contain preservatives or colouring, no additional sugar is added except the yeast itself. So, it is quite healthy, not like normal white bread,” Nasirah added.
Another signature dish is the cheesy melt.
Nasirah said if you enjoy kacang phool, you will love the cheesy melt even more because of its enhanced flavour.
You can have your preferred fillings. There are five options – vegetarian, chicken, beef, pepperoni or a mixed choice of two (vege/chicken/beef/pepperoni).
“It’s like enjoying a burger. You have to bite everything and you will experience all the explosion of flavours,” Nasirah said smilingly.
The other items on the menu include fajitas, huevos rancheros, and telur goyang kaya, butter, kaya butter, cheese toast and garlic toast.
According to Nasirah, kacang phool was not sold in Penang or northern peninsular Malaysia when she began her business in 2015 although it was already famous for many years in Johor and Singapore.
She herself had the opportunity of trying it a few times while traversing Johor in the course of her work.
When she came back to her home state, Penang, in 2015, Nasirah rented the stall at the food complex to start a bakery with the desire to aggressively promote her red velvet ice cream cakes.
But business fell through after a brief foray and the idea of selling kacang phool came to her mind while she was discussing with her mother, Khalijah Yusoff, 68, her next move.
“I told my mum that I don’t want to sell things that other people are selling. Not the common food. Why should people come to this hawker complex for common food? Let’s try a new idea, I suggested.
“From Kuala Lumpur to Perlis, you can’t find kacang phool unless you are from Arab family background,” she said.
Nasirah said they are now no longer the only ones selling kacang phool up north. Other outlets, especially cafes, have launched their own versions of kacang phool.
Nasirah admitted that the initial days were tough, and she has to turn to social media to reach out to more people and educate them about kacang phool.
“Because it was a very new idea, many people were curious. Still, we managed to get a lot of orders from offices, banks, and government agencies. At one time, we got orders from as many as 100 pax per day. And those who like it later started to come to our stall and dine in.
“In fact, we did better sales during Covid-19 than now. We did introduce box sets for delivery,” Nasirah said matter-of-factly.
Penang-born George Lim, one of Nasirah’s new customers, gave his thumbs-up for the kacang phool. Now staying in Malaysia under the MM2H programme, he took a visitor from Canada as well to try out Nasirah’s dishes.
“Excellent. The food here is very distinct. My friend, Saeid, who is a Persian, said he enjoyed it very much,” Lim, 66, commented.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Kompleks Desiraan Tanjung, which is off the main road to Straits Quay (near Island Plaza), has become alive after all the stalls there have been occupied by hawkers.
Nazzeeras is closed every Monday, but will open as usual if it is a public holiday. Its daily operating hours are from 8am to 2pm.
For inquiries, contact 019-220 1355.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Muhamad Amir Irsyad Omar