Kaya (Coconut Jam)

For my first post, I have decided to write a post regarding one of my favourite spreads. Born and raised in Malaysia, Kaya  or Coconut Jam is an extremely popular spread among Malaysians and is made out of 3 main ingredients, eggs, sugar and coconut. It is commonly used as spreads on Toasted Breads, fillings for Steam Buns ( Pao) or as toppings for Nyonya Kuih.

It was very easy to buy home-made Kaya  in Malaysia however, once I left Malaysia to Australia to further my education, I had to make do with the conventional peanut butter and jelly. Needless to say,  I missed having Kaya and Butter on Toast. Even though I could purchase Kaya in a bottle in Australia, it does not taste the same in comparison to buying it in Malaysia where its usually home-made. So I decided to try to make Kaya on my own, I feel it is healthier without the huge amount of preservatives and sugar that is stuffed into that imported Kaya bottles.  I always assumed that Kaya would be difficult to make but with this very simple recipe, it can be done quite easily. I would like to credit the recipe to RasaMalaysia for allowing me to enjoy Kaya 4000 miles away from home!! Cheers!  :)

[slideshow]

Kaya Recipe Ingredients:

4 eggs
130g sugar
200g thick coconut milk

70 g sugar ( to cook caramel)

Method:

1. Beat eggs and sugar with hand whisk till sugar has dissolved.


2. Add coconut milk into egg mixture.


3. Sieve.


4. Put egg mixture into the double boiler and keep on  stirring.


5. In a pan, stir fry the remaining 70g sugar till it melts and golden in color. Add the sugar into the egg mixture.


6. Continue stirring the egg mixture together  till it has thickened and golden in color. This process will take about 1.5 hours.


7. Remove from double boiler and cool thoroughly

My personal notes

1) This recipe is originally meant for steam bun ( Pao ) fillings, it will be very thick and unfit for spreading, thus by adding 50 ml of water to the thick coconut milk, that will make Kaya spreadable as the end product will have a thinner consistency.

2) Be very careful with the caramel!! *Warning* It is not to be played with and trust me when I tell you this, It will hurt alot if caramel touches your skin, I learn it the hard way :(

3) When adding the Caramel to the egg mixture on the double boiler, do not be alarmed if the caramel starts to solidify and sticks onto your whisk. Just keep stirring and the heat will slowly melt the caramel into the mixture.

4) Keep stirring the mixture throughout! Of course you may slack a minute or two sometimes that is alright but just make sure majority of the time the mixture is being stirred.

5) 1.5 hours is the standard amount of time needed for the mixture to thicken, however, if you feel like the Kaya is thick enough then you may stop before it gets too thick so spread, approximately an hour is usually when mine thickens up.

Hope you enjoyed it!

R. Deou