Malaysian Original · Food, media and enterprise

Khairul Aming

Kota Bharu, Kelantan

How a former engineer from Kelantan turned a Ramadan recipe ritual into a creator-led food company—and a platform for other Malaysian brands.

AI-generated editorial interpretation of a Malaysian food creator presenting sambal to camera between a working kitchen and a small food factory — AI-generated editorial visual · not documentary photography

Documented story · Record sales are clearly attributed

9 yearsA Ramadan ritual by 2026

01 · The opening scene

Two minutes, nine years in the making.

In August 2026, a new jar from Khairul Aming appeared online and the numbers began moving almost too quickly to follow. Sambal Nyet Bilis—a fiery Malaysian chilli condiment made with ikan bilis, or dried anchovies—reportedly generated RM2 million in sales in under two minutes.

The result came from Khairul Aming's own announcement and was reported by SAYS; it is a remarkable claim, not an audited account. Yet the stopwatch is the least interesting part of the story.

A two-minute launch can only happen after years of people choosing to return. To understand the speed, you have to rewind to an engineer with a camera, a rented room and a belief that a useful recipe could earn attention one day at a time.

AI-generated editorial interpretation of recipe testing, video production and sambal packing inside a Malaysian creator-led food business — AI-generated editorial visual · not documentary photography

From: Born and raised in Kelantan
First path: Mechanical engineer
Breakthrough: 30 Hari 30 Resipi
Built: A creator-led food and media enterprise

Before the sell-outs

An engineer learns to hold an audience.

Khairul Amin Kamarulzaman did not begin with a factory or a product launch. The Kancil Awards' 2024 profile records a more circuitous route: a Kelantan upbringing, a mechanical engineering degree from Vanderbilt University in the United States and an early career as an engineer.

At 21, he bought his first DSLR camera. Cooking and video gradually pulled him away from the expected path. He experimented through the Facebook food page Rasapop before putting his own name and voice at the centre of the work.

The early material was not polished. Bernama describes videos made on the floor in dim light. That detail matters because the finished clips now look effortless: tight edits, precise measurements and a familiar opening greeting. The apparent ease was learned in public, through repetition.

The two-minute sell-out begins years earlier, when nobody can promise that the next video will be watched.

The ritual

Thirty days gave Malaysians a reason to return.

The breakthrough was 30 Hari 30 Resipi—literally, 30 Days, 30 Recipes. During Ramadan, a new video would help viewers answer a practical daily question: what can we cook for the evening meal after a day of fasting, or for the pre-dawn meal before the next fast begins?

The series worked because it behaved less like advertising and more like service. Recipes crossed traditional dishes, drinks, snacks and desserts. Khairul Aming has said that taste, accurate measurements and ease of preparation matter because viewers may try a beautiful recipe once, but they only return if it works.

By 2025, Bernama reported that the series had run for eight years and reached 5.5 million TikTok followers. That year's production budget exceeded RM100,000, covering cameras, lighting, sets and ingredients. The scale had changed; the promise had not: make the next meal feel possible.

Trust was accumulated one useful recipe at a time.

Trust becomes tangible

Then the camera had to become a factory.

In January 2021, Khairul Aming launched Sambal Nyet Berapi, a jarred sambal built for the audience that already knew his food. The first year produced a reported 540,000 bottles and RM7.5 million in sales. By March 2022, his own update put the total at 621,800 bottles and RM8.6 million.

Selling was only the visible part. Behind it was a new discipline: food safety, machinery, layout, materials, people and repeatable production. SAYS reported that his first 14,000-square-foot factory in Kota Bharu cost more than RM1 million to prepare. Khairul Aming described buying the wrong machines and materials and getting the layout wrong before the team learned how manufacturing worked from end to end.

He built that capacity in his hometown rather than defaulting to Kuala Lumpur. The choice gives the story its geography. Digital attention could have floated free of place; instead, at least part of the physical enterprise took root in Kelantan. The public record still lacks enough detail to measure its long-term employment and supplier impact, but the direction is meaningful.

The factory made the digital story physical—and kept part of it close to home.

Beyond his own jars

The audience became a gathering place.

Sales figures explain commercial power, but they do not fully explain affection. In February 2026, one 60-second caramel-pudding recipe reportedly drew more than 22 million views. Bernama described families and friends across ages, faiths and states making the dessert, filming the nervous moment when it was turned out of its mould and laughing together whether it held or collapsed.

That is a different kind of reach: a recipe becomes a shared activity, and viewers begin to talk like classmates following the same teacher. The annual series is no longer merely a content schedule. It is part of how many Malaysians mark Ramadan online.

The same audience can also be opened to others. A 12-hour livestream at his Rembayung restaurant in February 2026 featured 14 Malaysian brands in a digital Ramadan-bazaar format. SAYS reported 51,700 products sold, 5.42 million views and RM2.3 million in gross merchandise value. Those figures remain platform- and announcement-linked, but the choice of format is revealing: the stage was large enough to share.

The most interesting use of influence is not selling one more jar. It is making room for someone else's.

06 · Why the world should know him

Local specificity became the advantage.

Khairul Aming is worth knowing beyond Malaysia not because a product sold quickly, but because the speed reveals what patient trust can build. He turned engineering discipline, visual craft and everyday food knowledge into a business without disguising where the story came from.

For an international reader, his journey offers a contemporary picture of Malaysia: digitally fluent, commercially ambitious, culturally plural and still attached to home. The recipes remain Malaysian. Ramadan remains part of the rhythm. Kota Bharu remains part of the infrastructure.

The records should continue to be attributed and tested as better evidence becomes available. But the larger achievement is already visible. A creator did not have to become less local to grow; the local knowledge was the reason millions kept returning.

07 · The evidence check

What the public record shows.

The long creator journey, Ramadan series, Kelantan factory and repeated product launches are documented across official profiles and established Malaysian media. Where figures originate from Khairul Aming or a commerce platform, we say so.

Documented milestones

01
The Kancil Awards' 2024 speaker profile records his Kelantan upbringing, mechanical engineering degree, early Rasapop work, 30 Hari 30 Resipi breakthrough and expansion into two factories.
02
Bernama reported in 2025 that the Ramadan series had run for eight years, reached 5.5 million TikTok followers and carried a production investment above RM100,000 that year.
03
SAYS documented the 14,000-square-foot Kota Bharu factory, its reported cost above RM1 million and Khairul Aming's account of the mistakes involved in learning manufacturing.
04
Bernama reported in 2026 that a caramel-pudding video passed 22 million views and prompted families across Malaysia to recreate and share the recipe.

Claims and gaps we keep visible

01
Independent verification of the reported RM2 million Sambal Nyet Bilis launch result and any marketplace-wide record attached to it.
02
Public detail on long-term employment, supplier geography and how much economic value from the enterprise remains in Kelantan.
03
Audited revenue, margins and repeat-purchase data that distinguish launch-day attention from durable product demand.

Follow the story

This is an editorial profile, not a product endorsement. Sales and livestream figures are attributed to Khairul Aming, Malaysian media or platform-linked events where audited accounts are not public. His official site offers recipes, company updates and product information for readers who want to follow the story directly.

Visit Khairul Aming's official website ↗