KAYA

"Kaya" is a very popular coconut jam amongst Malaysians as well as Singapore. It is also called "Sri Kaya" (called in Indonesia) or just "Kaya" (from the Malay word for RICH based on its golden colour). It consists of eggs, sugar, coconut milk and flavoured with pandanus amaryllifolius (a tropical plant in the screwpine genus which is known commonly as "Pandan"). Kaya is sweet and creamy, available as golden brown or green coloured spread depending on the amount of pandan and extent of caramelization of the sugar. This delicacy is credited to the Hainanese. Many of them worked on British ship as kichen staff. When they settled in Malaysia, they started selling the foods which they prepared for the British, including coffee, toast and French toast to the local populations. They replaced the Western jams and preserves flavour by the British with native coconut jams.

I have made this several times but I must say I am still not able to perfect the recipe. Dont get me wrong, the taste is good but I just cant get the green flavoured taste of pandan... Like i said, its so hard to get the proper ingredients in UK. So I just gave up and get myself a ready-make Kaya from Chinatown. At least I can still enjoy my white bread with kaya and kopi-o in the morning as well as throughout the day !