Update 11 Oct 2023: Toa Payoh Kachang Puteh Seller’s Sister Opens Similar Stall In Boon Lay, Paying $10K A Month In Rent
It’s by now well-known that Peace Centre’s beloved kacang puteh seller Amirthaalangaram Moorthy has moved to a new spot at Toa Payoh bus interchange and is doing very well there. A new, similar kacang puteh kiosk recently opened at Boon Lay bus interchange, and it’s run by a woman who claims to be Moorthy’s sister.
Compared to the Toa Payoh OG kiosk, the Boon Lay stall has a smaller selection of nuts and tidbits — about 18 types — and is priced at a flat $1.50 per paper cone portion. This includes the classics like fried kacang puteh, peas, sugared peanuts, steamed chickpeas and murukku. The stallowner, who gives her name as Revthi, doesn’t appear to be very fluent in English. But she tells 8days.sg in her halting English that she’s Moorthy’s “sister”.
And compared to Moorthy’s stall, which is rent-free due to an arrangement with SBS Transit, Revthi says she is paying “$10,000 a month in rent.” This is confirmed by Revthi’s daughter Malar, 29, who says her parents are winding up their stall at the end of this month as their middling sales could not justify the high rent.
Guess who's back: Well-loved kacang puteh stall from Peace Centre spotted in Toa Payoh
Decades ago, old-school snacks like kacang puteh could easily be purchased from hawkers outside cinemas and along the streets. But sadly, it is now a dying trade.
Running one of the last few kacang puteh stalls in Singapore is Amirthaalangaram Moorthy, a third-generation owner of his family business. His humble pushcart stall used to be located at the entrance of Peace Centre, but it was shuttered earlier this year with the building undergoing a makeover.
However, it seems like the business is back with a bang because some sharp-eyed netizens spotted Amirthaalangaram manning a kacang puteh booth at Toa Payoh Bus Interchange. On the menu, cashew nuts are going for $2 while the rest of the tidbits like peanuts and chickpeas are going for $1.50.
Peace Centre Kacang Puteh Seller Relocates To Toa Payoh Heartland After Mall En Bloc Sale
In February this year, kacang puteh seller Amirthaalangaram Moorthy faced the loss of his longtime rented spot. The 56-year-old was a familiar sight at Peace Centre, where he had been selling his nostalgic tidbits like murukku, fried nuts and steamed chickpeas from a pushcart.
After being sold en bloc in 2021, Peace Centre was earmarked for redevelopment. Business owners started moving out of the mall, including Moorthy, who was offered a six-month rent-free period by the new consortium owner to continue plying his trade outside the shopping centre before its makeover. Good news for those who fear that Singapore will lose one of its few — if not last — kacang puteh uncles after the redevelopment of Peace Centre: Moorthy has now shifted his business to Toa Payoh Bus Interchange.
According to him, the relocation came about as he was approached by SBS Transit to sell his kacang puteh at the interchange. Instead of his iconic mobile pushcart, Moorthy now operates out of a permanent kiosk adorably painted with a cartoon mural depicting a kacang puteh man with his customers and tidbit jars. The busy Toa Payoh transport hub is a boost for Moorthy’s sales, as he explains that footfall at Peace Centre was dwindling as the area was going through redevelopment. Smiling happily, he tells 8days.sg in his heartfelt colloquial English: “Business better here. There are many people here, Chinese, Malay, Indian. They all eat kacang puteh.”
‘No Time To Makan, No Time Go Toilet’: Kacang Puteh Sellers Thriving After Toa Payoh Relocation
It’s 2023 and old-school kacang puteh is still trending in Singapore — thanks to Amirthaalangaram Moorthy and his wife Vasantha, who are one of the last few sellers here. The couple still pack their homemade tidbits in hand-folded traditional paper cones for snacking on the go.
8days.sg first reported that Moorthy and Vasantha moved from their longtime outdoor spot at the entrance of Peace Centre, which is now undergoing redevelopment. Moorthy explains that he was approached by SBS Transit to shift his kacang puteh business to Toa Payoh Bus Interchange, as he was struggling with dwindling footfall at his former spot. The move proved to be a boost for his business, as the couple have since gone viral after reopening on 1 Aug and now have a queue at the transport hub. According to Moorthy, SBS Transit is not charging him any rent at Toa Payoh. He operates out of a kiosk provided by the transport company and occupies just a tiny spot along a pedestrian walkway without any water supply.
It’s similar to his setup at Peace Centre, except now husband-and-wife get to work in an air-conditioned environment. “We buy water to drink and use the public toilet,” Vasantha explains to 8days.sg of their work arrangement. If you are hoping to buy some kacang puteh, make your way down quickly. Since going viral, the couple has been selling out early. Although their official opening hours are from 11am to 7pm, Mondays to Saturdays, Vasantha says they had to close at 4.30pm today (5 Aug).She share s colloquially: “Today very long queue. We put out 17kg of steamed chickpeas, very fast finish at 3pm. That’s why we also closed very fast at 4.30pm.”
Fading Trades: The Kachang Puteh Man
Parked at the entrance of Peace Centre in Selegie Road is the last bastion of Singapore’s yesteryear snack culture. Over the past two decades, a humble pushcart peddling an eclectic assortment of kachang puteh (“kachang” refers to nuts and “puteh” or “putih” means white in Malay) has remained a fixture along the bustling street.
Simply known as “Kachang Puteh”, the metallic pushcart is crammed with 20 types of nuts, legumes and crackers that are housed in bright red-capped bottles. Popular nibbles include cashew nuts, tapioca fritters, sugar-coated peanuts, prawn sticks and murukku. For those who prefer to pop something warm into their mouths, there are also lightly-salted boiled peanuts and chickpeas that are served warm from an electric steamer. Customers can pick and choose which munchies to fill up their folded paper cones (from $1 for two types of snacks).
Mending the stall is Amirthaalangaram Moorthy, a third-generation kachang puteh seller, who arrived here in 2004 from his native Tamil Nadu to continue his family business. The Singapore permanent resident hails from a family that has a long-standing history with kachang puteh. The 51-year-old says that many kachang puteh sellers live in his ancestral village in southern India due to the abundance of nuts grown in the area.
Memory Makers: The last kacang puteh man in Singapore
Amirthaalangaram Moorthy, 53, (right) the last kacang puteh man in Singapore, inherited the stall from his father Nagappan Arumugam (left) in 2014. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman/Yahoo News Singapore and Amirthaalangaram Moorthy)
On a sweltering afternoon outside Peace Centre, it was the start of another workday for Amirthaalangaram Moorthy, 53. Then his eyes lit up at the sight of a familiar face: longtime customer Sally Thio, 55.
Thio had come all the way from her home in Boon Lay to buy a few $1.20 packets of kacang puteh (white beans in Malay), which came wrapped in the ubiquitous thin paper cones. She told Yahoo News Singapore that she has been frequenting Moorthy's stand for more than a decade. “I used to buy from his father’s stall at Cathay until now. I have become a grandmother," said Thio, who remembers Nagappan Arumugam as a "very good man". She added, "(Moorthy's) kacang puteh is very nice and very fresh."
In all likelihood, Moorthy is now the last of his kind. "Father old already, he cannot do, I do. Must carry on. Nobody is selling, only one kacang puteh (seller) now," said the father of two, who took over the business in 2014.
S'pore's last kacang puteh seller continues 50-year family tradition
If you find yourself walking past Peace Centre at Selegie Road, you might notice a humble little pushcart accompanied by a cheerful man, a.k.a. Singapore's last kacang puteh seller, a.k.a. Amirthaalangaram Moorthy.
For those unfamiliar with the term, "kacang" means nuts in Malay and "puteh" or "putih" refers to the colour white. In the past, kacang puteh was a popular snack commonly seen on the streets, particularly near cinemas as it was famously dubbed the 'Singaporean popcorn'.
Now however, kacang puteh pushcarts can hardly be found. Well, with one notable exceptio n.53-year-old Moorthy is a a third-generation kacang puteh seller who inherited the business from his father, who himself took over from his father. His family has been selling kacang puteh for over 50 years, previously selling their kacang puteh at Balestier Road.
The Hidden History of Kacang Puteh
Perhaps the sight of this assorted mix of nuts and snacks may be a familiar sight when you walk down the streets of Singapore or Malaysia. Salty, tangy, sweet, spicy with a strong punch of fragrant spices, this delectable treat is sure to catch your eye (or nose!) However, this tasty treat has a rich history that you may not be familiar with. Read on to find out more.
Where Did Kacang Puteh Hail From? Kacang Puteh or Kacang Putih, directly translates to “white nuts”. However, the kacang puteh you see being sold on the streets may not look white at all! Why is that so? This description actually refers to chickpea, a common ingredient seen in Indian cuisine. It is a creamy, white and simple-tasting ingredient, making it the perfect background for more exciting flavours to shine. In fact, this dish actually goes all the way back to the 1940s, where British immigrants brought migrant labourers to Malaya from Tamil Nadu. As these labourers saw their businesses flourish, they were able to set up stands along the streets, selling these chickpeas along with a whole array of delicious Indian snacks.
How Is It Sold? You can find many kacang puteh sellers peddling the snacks along the streets of Singapore, especially in areas such as Little India. It is also a common sight in Ipoh, Malaysia. Look out for the kacang puteh man with large containers of these snacks, either proudly displayed at the storefront or on mobile carts. Kacang puteh is typically an affordable snack, making it a great pick-me-up in the middle of the day. Choose what you’d like from what’s on offer, and you can enjoy kacang puteh neatly contained within a brown paper cone.
Kacang Puteh
Kacang Puteh evokes nostalgic memories of the good old days before popcorn became the norm in movie theatres. The term translates into ‘white beans’ or ‘white nuts’, but that only partially explains its contents.
The kacang puteh cart contains a wide variety of beans, nuts and peas – these are packaged in separate transparent glass or plastic containers. Buyers choose their favourite combination from the varieties available. The seller scoops them from the containers into a paper cone. In the early days, kacang puteh sellers hawked their wares from one location to another on a tray, which they carried on their head. Later, they devised push carts which made transport easier – this allowed them to reach more customers.
Is there a place for kacang puteh in modern society? The industry’s dynamics has changed, with mainstream brands taking over the packaging and sale of nuts and similar snacks. Moviegoers now prefer popcorn, and you may have to search further than the corner street before you come across a kacang puteh stand. However, some things remain the same, like the universal love for nuts and that satisfaction you get from crunching them. Unlike some of today’s packaged snacks containing plenty of chemicals and preservatives, kacang puteh is a natural and healthy alternative that is rich in proteins. The kacang puteh man may soon be a thing of the past, but there are still a wide variety of beans and nuts available for consumers. How about reviving this old tradition at your next event?
The Ice-Cream Uncles
Hi Foodies, according to a Facebook post by Happy People Helping People community, our beloved Sim Lim Ice-Cream Uncle is back selling ice cream at the same spot! We are so happy that he is finally able to operate his business after being closed due to the circuit breaker.
87-year-old ice cream seller, Ng Teak Boon, had recently caught the attention of netizens after CNA insider released videos exposing poverty in Singapore. For more than 10 years, Mr Ng had been selling $1.50 ice-cream from a bicycle cart beside the Sim Lim Tower. As selling ice-cream is his only source of income, the videos prompted overwhelming support from citizens throughout Singapore.
Ever since the touching story of Mr Ng went viral, many viewers offered to help Mr Ng live a better life. One of them was Andre Chiang, owner of recently closed-down Michelin Starred restaurant, Restaurant Andre. He created an ice-cream sandwich dessert as a tribute to Mr Ng. For every ice-cream he sold at his restaurant, he would donate $5 to Mr Ng.
