Custardy coconut jam is sandwiched between crunchy bread in kaya toast, a southeast Asian breakfast staple:
byMegan Zhang| UPDATED Sep 13, 2022 7:57 PMCultureTravelShareRise & Dine is a SAVEUR column by Senior Culture Editor Megan Zhang, an aspiring early riser who seeks to explore the culture of mornings and rituals of breakfast around the world.
It’s hard to visualize the 66-year-old, 6 foot 2 Singaporean chef as a little boy, but I can certainly imagine the delight the luscious jam could spark in a child. A popular food in the cultures of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, and other Southeast Asian countries, kaya requires multiple eggs, ample coconut cream, and many spoonfuls of sugar, stirred slowly over low heat to achieve the rich, gooey texture and ambrosial aroma that make the spread a morning favorite.
For how many people share similar memories of the dish, part of the magic of kaya is that “there are many strains and many species of it,” says cookbook author and food writer Christopher Tan. Many families like to add herbaceous pandan leaves, a tropical ingredient which infuses the kaya with a nutty scent, but they do it in different ways, dictated by regional variations and personal preferences.
Given the now-widespread availability of jarred kaya in grocery stores and from artisanal brands, not to mention the ubiquity of kopitiams , a veil of nostalgia seems to envelop the bygone era when the only way to have the coconutty jam at home was to make it by hand. “I think anyone younger than me would probably be most familiar with it as a convenience product,” says Tan, who is 49.
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