About Us
A Pasarmalam Story...
We are a Family Operated Business selling our Signature Prawn Vadai, together with other local snacks. It all started with our mother Mdm Jumana Rani, the creator of that fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside Prawn Vadai. The traditional Vadai(originated from india), is a savoury made from lentil. This savouries are generally coarse in texture which explodes with rich indian spices. Mdm Jumana Rani thought of fine-tuning this recipe to make it something more suitable to the taste of our Singaporeans. Results, the vadais became light, fluffy and bursting with flavours with each bite.And the experiment she did back then was the result of now, where many singaporeans from all races enjoy this uniquely Singaporean snack!
Humble Beginnings
During the late 80s, Mdm Jumana Rani first introduced her version of prawn vadais at the geylang ramadan bazaar. With the help of her husband Mr Selvarajah and her siblings, she set up a stall in the bazaar and started selling it, The local malay community well recieved this new product and soon word started to spread like wildfire. Back then, it was only an yearly affair. Therefore everyone could only get their hands on it during the fasting month at the geylang bazaar. Everyone would wait for this special month year after year and business was very good. Mdm Jumana Rani taught her siblings her recipe so that they could also set up stalls at diiferent parts of the bazaars for that month. This is the only reason why till today, many crave to eat Vadai during the fasting month.
Journey Through the Pasar Malam(Night Market)
In the early 2000s, we went on to join the night market that was travelling all around Singapore. We set up stalls in various locations for a period of 1 month, 2weeks or even 3days. We wanted to serve our vadais all year round. So for an yearly affair, we made it possible to almost an everyday thing, but at different locatons. While our journey through Pasar Malams was not exactly smooth sailing, in retrospect, it brought our Vadais to a whole lot of people and we loved what we were doing.
Twists and Turns
We moved around Singapore setting up stalls for 20 years gaining customers along the way through Facebook, Our journey ended when the pandemic came on 2020. All night Markets and outdoor events have to close on govrnments order and we had to stop. Lucky for us, we managed to set up a stall at Golden Mile Food Centre just in time for Ramadan Month.While Pasar Malams were halted during Covid, many of our customers came looking for us at Golden Mile Food Centre to place orders for delivery. So here’s a shout-out to all our wonderful customers who have shared the good news on social medias!!
Rich in History AND Taste
Today, we have opened up various shops in the east and still expanding. We run The Original Vadai as a family with us 4 sibilings having taken up various parts of operations and our mother still preparing some ingredients. The Original Vadai is dear to our hearts as it is the product of our mother, Mdm Rani’s, hardwork and resilience. Over the years, this recipe has been perfected and evolved to encompass even more original Singaporean flavours. Our Vadais are Uniquely Singaporean, and cannot be found in India or Malaysia! This classic snack is the perfect teatime accompaniment and almost no festive is complete without Vadais on the menu. Light, fluffy and flavourful on the inside, our Vadais are deep fried to golden crispy perfection on the outside.