Monday, July 21, 2008

Nyonya Kaya

Sitting here and typing out a post at this time of the morning is sheer madness. Unfortunately I'm not able to sleep as my little one has caught the sniffles. She was fine just yesterday till we met up with some ballet mates for a 'thank you' lunch organised by the teacher, in appreciation of our dedication in making the funfair a success. She was playing for hours with a little girl who, towards the end, I realised was sick. :( Have just given her her favourite Dimetapp but she doesn't seem to be nodding off to dreamland. Kids are addicted to this stuff. My little nephew too professes it to be his favourite medicine and so does my girl. How did they make medicine taste this good?? She'll even want to have it when she's well. Lol. But of course she's not allowed. ;P

On to my topic - kaya. I've had this recipe handed to me more than 10yrs ago and it's the first time I'm using it. A quick search on google showed up many others who have made and written about it in 2006. I'm 2yrs late. Lol. Having been told that it was tedious and it involved many hours slaving and stirring over the stove, I was hesitant in preparing it. That's the reason it took over 10yrs. Also, I don't have anymore space to store a double boiler on top of my tons of appliances. However, little princess was introduced to kaya by her dad earlier this year and she loves this coconut jam. I had tried introducing it to her a couple of years before but she didn't take to it. This I have to blame her school for feeding her lots of jam sandwiches. She never liked fruit jams too. And I wasn't too bothered by it as the less sweet stuff she took, the better. So, while we were at a bakery one day, I think it was Han's, she wanted me to buy a bottle of it. Alas, all they had was the bigger bottle and how were we supposed to finish it all within a week? So I decided to make some for my princess. Besides, I never liked the ones sold outside. They are too smooth and sweet for my liking. I love mine with the lumpy texture and making it at home, you can reduce the amount of sugar. A friend of mine made it the same week I did and she says you shouldn't reduce it too much or the kaya wouldn't last. It acts as a kind of preservative?

My recipe calls for 10eggs. A little too much considering the sites I've checked out listed 1 cup or some said 4-5 eggs. I'm not sure what kind of results those will yield, maybe smoother texture? Best I stick to what I know works for me. In the first picture, it shows the lumpy texture of the kaya that I like. Some say you are supposed to blend the kaya at the end to achieve a smooth paste, some others say that you need to stir it constantly from the minute you dump all the ingredients into the pot. I've discovered that it is not that tough after all, to make kaya. In fact it's pretty easy except it takes hours.

In the 2nd picture, it shows the double boiler that I created. I placed a smaller pot into a big pot. I then tied a tea towel over the cover to prevent water droplets from forming and dripping into the kaya mixture.

The ingredients I used were -
10 eggs, beaten
1 coconut (I used the ready coconut milk from the chiller section of the supermarket)
600g sugar
pandan leaves, tied into a knot and bruised a little

Method -
I put everything into the pot and steamed it for 3-1/2hrs, stirring now and then till cooked. As I made it at night, it was only ready after 10pm. I left it to cool while I went to bed and filled them in jars in the morning and then refrigerated them.

I didn't have the local kopitiam bread on hand. Thus we had them on plain white bread. It tasted gorgeous, just the way I remembered it.

11 comments:

Little Corner of Mine said...

Hey, this is the first time I heard about the double boil kaya. I didn't know kaya can be made this way too. Cool to know. Glad you finally made the kaya that you love and remembered. I still have a bottle of unopened pandan kaya in my pantry, I need to make some bread!

Peony said...

u can made kaya in a crockpot or even a breadmaker too. (I prefer making in a crockpot)

if you prefer the kaya lumpy, then no need to put in blender to make smooth.

hope your girl gets better soon.

SIG said...

lcom - Haha, I will just go out and buy a loaf of bread! Can't be bothered to make. Hehe.

peony - Haha, alas, I have no crockpot or breadmaker. So it has to be the traditional way. ;) Thanks, just gave her medi to go nap. Will continue give her echinacea and Vit C to fight it.

Unknown said...

oh my! you made your own kaya! goshhhhh.....hats off to you! ^_^

daphne said...

Wow! Home made kaya! Bet it's so much healthier (less sugar)..and fresher tastes better right?

Big Boys Oven said...

you really do have that patient to make this delicious egg kaya!

Maya Yunos said...

I ve been wanting to make kaya for a long2 time. Urs took 10 years...I hope mine is less. 9 years pehaps?:p

paw paw said...

Oh! well....I have not attempted any kaya before...cuz the thot of stiring non-stop kinda made me shudder....lol!
I too love lumpy ones..like how grandma used to make when I was little...Hmmm! Oh! no U reminded me of my grandma.....*chuckles*

Shazz said...

U got any more of that kaya? Leave some for me!

Oh for the love of food! said...

Thanks for the Birthday Wishes ;o) I LOVE Kaya but dont have the patience or the time for the lengthy traditional method. I make mine in the microwave in under an hour.
Hope Princess recovers soon, and get some sleep Mommy!

SIG said...

rita - Haha, if I can do, you can do it too!

big boys oven - Hehe, I don't always have patience. ;)

maya - I doubt it. Am sure you will do soon. :D

paw paw - Really? Glad you have same taste. Once I remind you of good things about your grandma it's ok. ;)

shazz - I'll make you fresh ones. Can't keep that long. :P

oh for the love of food! - Microwave? Oh dear. I don't like using micro. :P But I guess since you are always busy, it helps to cut down a lot on time. Oh yea, thanks. She's fine. I fed her loads of echinacea and vit c and she was grand by the second day. Haha, mummy's sleeping well now. :D