Homemade Kaya Recipe: Eat This and Nothing Else Will Do on Your Toast!

Kaya is the Nutella for adults,

Put it on bread, put it on crackers; 
Tastes like heaven in the mouth.

• 3 eggs
• 8 fl oz (235 ml) santan (fresh first press)
• 11 oz (300 grams) sugar (set aside 2 tablespoons for caramel)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon gula melaka granules
• 2 pandan leaves (tied in a knot)

 

Method

1. Mix eggs, santan and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk them up and then sieve the mixture into another bowl.

Whisk them up good!

 

2. Heat a sizable pot (big enough to hold the santan mixture). Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar in a thin layer over the bottom of the pot.

Sugar before caramelised

 

3. Keep the fire on a medium to low heat until the sugar has turned a beautiful golden brown.

Sugar after caramelised

 

4. Pour in the santan mixture and give it a quick whisk.

Don’t be worried if there is a clump of sticky caramel on your spatula. Just continue to stir over a medium to low fire and it will melt subsequently.

 

5. Keep stirring, alternating between a medium to low fire, until it thickens.

If you have many things to tend to (or if your arm is dying), gadgets like this can do the work for you!

 

6. Once thickened to a consistency where it sticks to the back of a spoon, add in the pandan leaves and continue stirring until it thickens further.

The next best combination after butter + kicap is pandan + gula melaka. Yum!

 

7. Turn off the heat and cool the kaya mixture.

How to know your kaya is ready: the brown sheen, sticky concoction and a strong desire to dip your fingers in.

 

Extra Kaya Tips:

1. If prefer a smoother texture, sieve the kaya mixture after cooking.
2. *psst* for those who love it thick and rich, use duck eggs instead of boring, old chicken eggs.

 

Disclaimer: 

1. This recipe will give you one-16 fl oz glass jar’s (the kind you can buy in bulk at Ace hardware) worth of luscious kaya. 
2. The kaya made from this recipe can last for 2 weeks (if you store it in a sterilised jar, of course)Yet, who are we kidding? it will finish waaaaaaayyyyy before the week even begins. It’s kaya, for God’s sakes!