The land of curry

Deepavali is a major Indian festival in Singapore. It is celebrated by the Hindus and Sikhs in Singapore. It is known as the "Festival of Light". The lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being. This year, Deepavali will be celebrated on Monday, 27 October 2008.

On the 1st day of Hari Raya Adilfitri on 1 October 2008, my family cooked some curry dishes for dinner. I quickly caught the "curry-in-a-hurry" bug and I was eager to visit Little India to buy some Indian spices that are not easily available in the supermarkets.

I was tied up today and was only able to meet Da later in the day. We had arranged to meet at Bugis MRT station. When we met up, I grinned at Da in anticipation and we walked towards Serangoon Road. It was quite a long walk from Bugis MRT station but I did not feel the distance as I was looking forward to our shopping trip.

We crossed the road at Sim Lim Square and headed in the direction of Tekka Mall (now known as "The Verge"). We had reached Serangoon Road! Decorations have already been put up along Serangoon Road in preparation for Deepavali.

As we walked along Serangoon Road, we were charmed by the colourful sights and the various things sold at the shops and roadside stalls. Shortly thereafter, we arrived at our destination - Komala Villas. It is an Indian vegetarian restaurant.

We have not eaten at Komala Villas for quite a long time. As such, I was eager to order my favourite dish. As we were shown to our table and the waiter came to take our order, without looking at the menu, I ordered masala thosai.

Da ordered the Poori meal. The 2 UFO-looking items that you see on the plate below are actually made from flour. They are hollow. The dish is accompanied by:-
(a) chick peas in curry
(b) vegetable dhal (comment: this is the dhal dish that I obtained the recipe from Da's friend in Perth (may he rest in peace). It is not difficult to cook this dish but involves a fair bit of work.)

For the drinks, I ordered my favourite masala teh tarik whereas Da ordered the kopi tarik. Yummy!

No visit to Komala Villas would be complete without trying their vadai and dhal vadai. Their snacks are freshly fried and very delicious! We had actually ordered 1 vadai and 1 dhal vadai. However, the waiter informed us that they have run out of dhal vadai, so we settled for 2 vadai.

The meal at Komala Villas cost us S$10-30. After the hearty meal, we were so full that we could barely walk! I leaned back against the comfortable cushioned seat, giggled at Da and told him that we need to "walk-walk". Besides, I am on the lookout for curry powder (ie. the "homemade" kind and not the pre-packed curry powder), tandoori powder and mustard seeds.

After we paid for the meal, we walked out of Komala Villas and glanced around. Da suggested going to the Tekka Market at their temporary premises (the actual premises are under upgrading) located near Muthu's Curry along Race Course Road. I agreed. We crossed the road and walked towards Race Course Road. There are so many shops in Little India! The variety of things that the shops sell is astounding.

Finally, we saw the Tekka Temporary Market. The market comprises 3 sections:-

(a) wet market

(b) food stalls

(c) dry market

We decided to survey the food stalls and dry market before we proceeded to the wet market. The dry market was abuzz with activity as Deepavali is coming and there were many women and children shopping for new clothes. My head was swimming from looking at all the colourful saris and punjabi suits. I was so tempted to buy a sari or a punjabi suit. However, as I have not yet reached my weight target of, er.... 45 kg, I decided to forego the purchase, much to my regret. (Note to BH: Please stop losing weight! I am getting jealous! heehee....)

Many of the stalls in the wet market section sell fruits or fresh meat. After we walked past several fruit stalls and stalls selling pre-packed curry powder (mainly Baba's Curry Powder), I saw a stall selling curry powder by weight. They make their own curry powder! All excited, I asked the stall holder what kind of curry powder he sells. It turned out that he sells curry powder for chicken, curry powder for mutton and curry powder for fish. My brother had earlier requested me to help him buy "meat curry". I decided to buy 500g of chicken curry powder for him. As for myself, I bought 500g of chicken curry powder and 500g of fish curry powder (my brother had informed me earlier that he already has fish curry powder at home).

As the stall holder was weighing and packing the curry powder, I glanced around the stall. I saw tandoori powder and mustard seeds! Perfect! Exactly what I also needed to buy! I bought 2 packets of tandoori powder and 1 packet of mustard seeds for my brother. I also bought 1 packet of mustard seeds for myself.

Was that all that I bought? Actually, no. I also bought 1 packet of Samba powder (which is used to make dhal) and 1 packet of yellow lentils (to make dhal). If you are wondering where all this is leading to, yes, you have guessed it correctly. Deepavali falls on Monday, 27 October 2008. I am thinking of cooking Indian food perhaps on that day or the weekend before that.

The total cost of our purchase was S$18-20. It was cheaper than I expected.

As I left the Tekka Temporary Market a happy girl and we made our way towards Tekka Mall (now known as "The Verge"), we came across a shop in a block of HDB flats selling... more spices! Unable to resist the temptation, we stepped into the shop. After some time, we left the shop (with S$20 less in our wallets) with a plastic bag containing tumeric powder, garam masala, tea dust (for masala tea), masala tea powder, uncooked papadam, vadai mix, dhal vadai mix and chicken 65 masala mix.

Goodness me! Enough of shopping! We proceeded to Tekka Mall (sorry, I am still not used to calling it "The Verge") where Da bought a toto ticket and a big sweep ticket, as a last purchase from the Singapore Pools outlet over there (the outlet will be closing down soon). The Verge, formerly known as Tekka Mall (德卡廊), is a shopping centre in Little India in Singapore. It was opened in 2003. It comprises two buildings - the main building and another housing Sheng Siong Hypermarket. The main building is located at the junction of Serangoon Road and Sungei Road and the Sheng Siong building is located at the junction of Perak Road and Sungei Road. Both of the buildings are separated by Clive Road. In August 2008, Tekka Mall was revamped and renamed "The Verge", with the Sheng Siong building renamed "Chill @ The Verge".

I have not yet decided on the menu for the Indian meal that I intend to cook around Deepavali time. Tentatively, I have some ideas:-

(a) papadam

(b) fish curry

(c) fried chicken masala

(d) vegetable dhal

(e) cabbage fried with tumeric and mustard seeds

(f) curry pork

Perhaps I may fry the vadai and dhal vadai as a snack. I am undecided about the dessert, though. Most Indian desserts tend to be very sweet and do not suit our tastebuds. I guess I would have to do some research on the internet on Indian desserts.