My earliest memory of being in the kitchen consisted mostly of helping my grandmother out when I was old enough. Before that, I was always hanging on the bars of our grilled gate leading to our outdoor kitchen, just watching as she cooked.
And like many grandmother’s, my own had the habit of feeding me constantly. She didn’t just make three meals a day. She liked cooking, and she liked making small snacks. So after lunch and my shower, give it another 3 hours and she’d have something else prepared for me to eat. Most of the times it was some form of nyonya kuih or some form of food she felt like making.
Before
Sometimes though, she’d just be preparing random condiments or stuff she thinks we’d like. One of the clearest things I remember helping her with was to make kaya, which is in essence, a coconut and egg jam.
After
Smooth, sweet, with the delightful taste of pandan (screwpine), and went incredibly well with butter and toast. Kaya was a taste I grew up with, but the process of making it is arduous. I remember hours upon hours of me just sitting there over my grandmother’s make shift double boiler (over a charcoal fire no less, because using a gas stove would use up too much gas), and just stirring the massive pot of kaya with the wooden spatula.
The results were always amazing though, and even till this day, I can think of no one who could recreate the gorgeous, smooth jam that my grandmother produced after 4 – 5 hours of labor. I love her kaya, but I wasn’t willing to go through the arduous 4 hours of stoking the fire and stirring, so I… improvised.
My kaya is made over a slow cooker, which wouldn’t burn the sugar (sitting over and consistently stirring double boiled kaya is to prevent the sugar from burning or sticking), and requires a considerably less amount of time then over a fire. Granted, it doesn’t taste as good, but I’ll take what I can get.
Maybe one day I’ll find the will and inspiration to recreate the kaya just how my grandmother made it. But until then, this will do.
Slow Cooker Kaya | Coconut Jam
Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 200ml coconut cream
- 80ml fresh coconut milk
- 300gm white sugar (can be adjusted according to wanted sweetness)
- Pandan/screwpine leaves, about 5- 10, knotted.
Instructions
- Mix the coconut cream and fresh coconut milk together, and then pour in the beaten eggs. Set slow cooker on high.
- Whisk until the mixture is well combined, and add in white sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved, and add in pandan leaves.
- Leaving the setting on high, cover the cooker and return to stir it every 10 – 15 minutes for an hour.
- After an hour, change setting to low, and give it a good stir before covering it and leaving it for an hour.
- Return to stir again after an hour, making sure everything is well combined, before setting it on high. Continuously stir it for 15 minutes, or until desired consistency.
Optional
- Don’t worry if its lumpy, its meant to be this way. If you wish for it to be more smooth though, you could always process it in a blender to achieve smoother texture.
Hungry Tales 