the triangular indian curry puff

one type of curry puff that we do not see much of these days is the large, triangular, indian curry puff. i suppose if you go to tekka market or the serangoon road area, you may be able to get it without too much difficulty. i enjoyed eating this curry puff in my younger days and i still do. i like it when it is hot, and i like the hard and crispy edges. in those days, there was one type of filling only - curry potato.

i remember there was this indian shop at the corner of owen road and dorset road. the sikh shop owners would bake these triangular curry puffs in a stone oven, the type of oven they use for baking naan and pizzas in some places. i would go and buy it in the evening when it was freshly baked. if i remember correctly, it was ten cents a piece, which was quite worth it because it was big and much more filling (for the stomach) than the malay epok epok.

another way i used to get to eat this puff was to buy it from this sikh man who came around the kampong on a bicycle to sell bread. he also sold these curry puffs. as it was quite a mouthful (to eat, not to say it) for us small boys, we would request him to cut it into two equal pieces. he would do this using a pair of scissors.

today, i came across mention of a shop in joo chiat, along onan road, which sells a very good variety of this curry puff. anyway, i bought mine from a shop in my neighbourhood for $1.10. back in those days, it cost 10 or 15 cents a piece.

a check with my friends indicate that not everybody was particularly fond of eating it. the complaints were: it was too oily; it was too flaky; and they were quite stingy with the filling.