Kacang Pool Mustafa @ Geylang Serai Hawker Centre · Since 1952

This morning, I gave Kacang Pool Mustafa a try as I wanted something light to tide me over before my lunch appointment. Kacang pool is an acquired taste as it is still a relatively unfamiliar dish even though this stall have been around since 1952 (that's 68 years ago 😱 ). It is a good alternative to roti prata, roti John or kaya toast, if you want a change.

Stall name: Kacang Pool Mustafa

Address: 1 Geylang Serai, #02-142, Singapore 402001 (Geylang Serai Market & Food Centre)

Nearest MRT: 10 minutes walk from Paya Lebar station

Hours: 7:00am - 1:00pm

There is no long queue at Kacang Pool Mustafa. I guess kacang pool is still not a natural choice yet for most Singaporeans. There are probably less than ten kacang pool stalls in the whole of Sinagpore.

Kacang Pool found in Singapore and Johor is derived from the Egyptian ful mudammas which is Egypt's national dish. The dish consists of stewed broad beans with spices and eaten with Aish Baladi which is an Egyptian whole wheat flat bread. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

For $3.50, we get half a baguette loaf and a dish of kacang pool dip. The main ingredient is fava beans (also known as broad beans) with spices such as cumin. The dip is thick as the fava beans and other ingredients are mashed and stewed till it becomes like a wet paste.  Kacang Pool Mustafa's dip comes with two sunny side up eggs.

There's a lot of chopped onion and green chili in my kacang pool dip. I asked for it because I "copy" the uncle in front of me who requested for it 🤦 🙄

The fava beans were stewed till soft. There were also some other beans which I am not sure of the name.

The baguette was generic and toasted briefly in a household toaster before serving. I was pleasantly surprised at how crisp the baguette crust was. The inside of the bread was soft and fluffy.

Kacang Pool is eaten simply by dipping the bread in the dip. The dip was nutty savoury. The two runny yolks added a bit of egginess and body to the dip. I enjoyed it with the bread which tasted slightly sweet.

The taste of raw onion and green chili was quite pronounced in my dish as I asked for extra. If that is not your cup of tea, don't be like Tony 😄

The Johor version of kacang pool is eaten with a thick block of white bread slathered with margarine and grilled on a griddle till browned. Unlike the Egyptian and Singapore versions, Johor's kacang pool dip has beef and so the dip has a distinct beefy flavour. When I asked the creator of Johor kacang pool why he added beef to the dish, Haji Makpol said he felt the original dish was too bland 😂

The most famous in Johor is Kacang Pool Haji 👈 click

             

Written by Tony Boey on 28 Dec 2021