MELAKA – It has only been a year since she became a sambal (chilli condiment) entrepreneur, but Rohana Mohd Isa, 62, better known as Cikgu Ana, has managed to produce more than 50 chilli-based products such as cooking paste, sambal, sauces, ‘acar’ (pickles) and ready to eat since October 2020.
A retired Home Science teacher, Cikgu Ana said that previously, she ran a catering and bakery business but had to switch to selling sambal products due to the constraints of the Movement Control Order (MCO) brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Alhamdulillah (praise be to God) although I did not expect to go this far. Though I have been in the culinary field for a long time, this success was also helped by various parties such as the Department of Agriculture and Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara).
“So far, we have been catering for the domestic market but the demand is very encouraging from domestic and foreign sambal fans, especially those who travel,” she told Bernama when met at the Melaka Keluarga Malaysia Aspirations Tour (AKM), here, today.
The mother of five said that all her halal-certified products were being produced at her factory, R.M.I Industries, located in Jalan Tulang Daing, Masjid Tanah, Alor Gajah.
Her products are now in the final stage of obtaining the Industry Safe Food Responsibility Certification (MeSTI).
She said that among the other achievements in that short period of time were her ‘sambal bilis’ and ‘pucuk ubi garing’ receiving the Agriculture-Based Industry award at the Farmers, Livestock Breeders and Fishermen’s Day celebrations in Melaka last July.
Cikgu Ana said that among her products that were in high demand were the ‘sambal bilis berapi’, ‘sambal bilis dan pucuk ubi garing’, ‘sambal garing ikan bilis’ and ‘sambil garing ikan bilis dan tempe’.
“In addition, we also make a combo package that contains six types of mini sambal packages of various flavours, namely ‘bilis berapi’, ‘peta’i, ‘cumi’ (squid), ‘ikan masin bunga kantan’, ‘giling penyet’ and dried shrimp.
“The latest products are ‘ready to eat’ such as ‘sambal kerang’, paru (lung), ‘asam pedas tetel’ and ‘rendang asam’ which can be eaten within five minutes after the sambal pack is put in hot water, thus, suitable for travelling,” she added.
Cikgu Ana’s products can be purchased at the string of Family Store, some grocery stores and Petronas gas stations. – Bernama
