THE famous bubur lambuk from Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru is set to make a return this Ramadan after a prolonged absence due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Excitement was clearly etched on the face of mosque treasurer Harmainshah Idris, 43, who said the mosque's committee members could hardly wait to usher in the holy month.
The committee members, he said, had begun preparing the ingredients for the savoury porridge as well as arranging for fresh produce to be delivered to them daily.
Harmainshah said this year's Ramadan would be more special compared with the last two years.
"Movement control restrictions meant we couldn't gather for prayers in 2020, let alone break fast or cook 'bubur lambuk' together. It was sad but we remained positive. We instead used the time to bond with our families at home.
"So when the government finally lifted the restrictions and allowed us to perform tarawih as well as continue mosque activities for Ramadan this year, we could barely contain our excitement.
"We're so excited for this year's Ramadan that we began our bubur lambuk preparation two days early," said Harmainshah, who has been a committee member of the mosque since 2017.
He said the mosque distributed 70,000 packets of bubur lambuk during Ramadan, with one pack usually enough to feed two to three people.
He said there would be 20 people per team to prepare the porridge.
They would start cooking at 7am and begin packing the food three hours later.
"We'd finish packing by noon. We usually begin distributing the porridge to the people after asar prayers."
Harmainshah hoped that more people would join mosque activities, including tarawih prayers, this year.
"We are grateful that things are returning to pre-pandemic levels slowly.
"We hope that more people would seize the opportunity to come and perform prayers at the mosque as we've been unable to do so in the last two years.
"We also hope that the public can contribute to our funds to help sustain our mosque management and activities."