Sophia AlBarakbah loves to cook, and this Hari Raya she's making rendang

Sophia AlBarakbah's favourite food on Hari Raya is lemang and rendang, calling it as her 'Raya go-to food'. Photo: ART CHEN/The Star

For Kuala Lumpur-born Sophia AlBarakbah, Hari Raya celebration is pretty much the same every year.

“Our routine is going for Raya prayer in the morning, come back home for food and then visit our family members, and just spend time with everyone. We also play firecrackers in the evening,” said Sophia, who also goes by Sophie Koshka.

As for her favourite Raya food, the star of movies like Mimaland (2020), Ada Hantu (2021) and the upcoming Harimau Malaya: The Untold Story named rendang and lemang as her favourite.

“I love the combination. That is my Raya go-to food. I can eat seven pieces of lemang in one go,” said the 30-year-old who has mixed ancestry of Malay, Chinese and Arab.

While the lemang is store-bought, the actress cooks the rendang herself, both beef and chicken rendang, following her mum’s recipes.

As it turns out, Sophie – who is the second child in a family of four girls – loves to cook.

When StarLifestyle met her before the start of the fasting month, she revealed that she planned to cook various dishes for breaking fast whenever she can with one of her sisters, who also likes to cook.

“For the past two or three years, I have been working during Ramadan. So this year, I plan to rest, spend more time with my family and commit to doing more prayers.

“I just want to be with my family because I haven’t had time to be with them ever since I started acting; I’ve been super busy,” said Sophia, who entered showbiz in 2019.

“That’s what I want to do this Ramadan, just cook dishes for berbuka. My sister will be cooking as well, so we can really bond over cooking.”

Besides cooking, Sophia is also into making her own Hari Raya outfits, which she then sends to her tailor to be custom-made.

“I haven’t made my Raya outfits yet. But I have the drawings of the outfits that I want. I usually have two pairs of Raya outfits, at the very least. If there is extra time, then I’d tailor five pairs.”

After the months of Ramadan and Syawal, Sophia is set to return to Saga, Japan, in May to shoot the second season of the popular series From Saga With Love.