KUCHING: Popular with its sambal tahai known as sambal tahai nyanyat, ZH, a company that produces tahai-based products, has released its latest spice – sambal tahai geronong.
With a combination of tahai fish (local smoked fish) and also cabik geronong (habanero), this new sambal promises extra spiciness to anyone who tries it.
According to ZH owner Zulkarnain Hamid, who has been running the tahai-based sambal business since 2015, his sambal tahai uses his family’s heritage recipe from Lawas.
“Anyone who has ever tried our sambal tahai nyanyat can definitely feel the tantalising aroma of the smoked fish in the sambal.
“For spicy food lovers, here’s the good news — we have released our new sambal called sambal tahai geronong.
“You can get a bottle of our sambal tahai nyanyat (original or spicy flavours) for only RM15 for and RM17 for sambal tahai geronong,” he explained, adding he intends to market his products internationally.
Meanwhile, speaking on his business journey, Zulkarnain, who previously worked in the oil and gas sector, said at the beginning of his career as an entrepreneur, he only sold and supplied tahai fish, anchovies and dried shrimp to traders around Lawas, Limbang as well as Brunei Darussalam.
Sambal Tahai Geronong. 
Sambal Tahai Nyanyat (original and spicy).
Seeing his seriousness in the business, the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) had encouraged him to make sambal based on tahai fish because apart from being in high demand among the locals, it (sambal tahai) also has great potential to be marketed internationally.
Zulkarnain pointed out that since people are advised to stay at home to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection, his company took the opportunity to market its products through the Shopee e-commerce platform.
“Sambal tahai does have a huge market opportunity but there are still few of our entrepreneurs who are really serious about marketing it widely.
“In addition, entrepreneurs also need to obtain a halal certificate. Probably because of this, they prefer to only sell the sambal in areas around them.
“For sambal tahai nyanyat, people do not have to worry because it has been certified halal since 2016,” he said, adding that apart from being sold at Shopee, his sambal can also be found in selected stores in Kuching, Kota Samarahan, Bintulu, Miri as well as Mydin branches throughout Malaysia.
Apart from sambal tahai nyanyat and sambal tahai geronong, Zulkarnain also sells popia udang and black seed oil which are priced at RM20 and RM25 respectively.
“I warmly welcome members of the public who are interested in adding their side income to sign up as our agents.
“For more information, visit my Facebook page Abang ZH or call me at 014-6999684,” he said.
