Homemade Kaya

Inspiration - Before I came to Dallas, I use to stay in PJ Malaysia. I remember whenever I eat around PJ SS2, Seapark, Chow Yang restaurants for dinners, nearly 90% of the time, I will see "the Kaya lady". She is a neatly dressed woman walking around with a basket full of kaya. She will go from table to table saying "homemade kaya", "homemade kaya". My usual comment about her is that she moves so fast from table to table that before she finish her sentence she has already left. No eye contact, no waiting to see anyone was interested to buy. So from all the times, I only bought once. But the real reason I don't buy her kaya is her kaya is the greenish type and I like the brownish kaya. From young, I only saw and ate brownish kaya at home. In her younger days, my grandma used to make kaya but now the recipe has been passed and perfected by Aunt Judy. She brieftly described the recipe and the way to make it to me once and I am more than eager to try.

Simple ingredients -
1) 4 eggs
2) Sugar - 200gm
3) 1 coconut from can - 350ml or 400ml
4) Pandan leaves

Simple steps:-
1) The secret to making the kaya brown in colour is to caramelized some sugar. Therefore take 100gm of sugar and caramelized by stirring the sugar in low heat till the sugar dissolved, start to brown and liquidate.

2) Next, stir the eggs and coconut milk and remaining sugar in a separate bowl until all ingredients have disolved and well blended. Pour into the caramelized sugar. Put your pot onto a bigger pan with water (double boiled concept). Ensure medium to low fire. Continously stir the mixture. Also include panda leaves (tied in knot) into mixture.

3) After 1 of stirring, mixture will start to brown and thicken.

4) Your kaya should be ready. Remove the pandan leaves if you have them inside. Voila! Ready to eat! Yum yum!

Verdict - I made this in a jiffy while also trying to cook another dish. So I was kinda dissappointed cos it did not turn out as well as I wanted. The taste and aroma is great but I am not happy with the texture and colour. I prefer it to be more creamy and darker brown. Basically I should have caramelized more sugar in the beginning and also ensure the fire is low and stir for probably 2 hrs instead of 1 hr. Will try again but meanwhile I will have some kaya toast!