This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2017) |
Alternative names | |
---|---|
Type | Spread, Dip |
Region or state | Maritime Southeast Asia [1] |
Associated cuisine | Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, and Thailand, Samoa |
Main ingredients | Coconut, sugar, eggs |
Coconut jam, also known as kaya jam or simply kaya, is a sweet spread made from a base of coconut milk, eggs, sugar and sometimes pandan leaves as a flavouring. It is popular throughout Southeast Asia.
The word for coconut jam in the Malay language, kaya, means rich, referencing the texture of the popular food. It is also called srikaya. In Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, kaya has a creamy texture. [2] It is made from coconut milk (locally known as 'santan') and duck or chicken eggs, flavored with pandan leaves and sweetened with sugar. The resulting color varies depending on the color of the egg yolks, the amount of pandan, and the extent of the caramelization of the sugar. As a popular local spread, kaya is typically spread on toast to make kaya toast and eaten in the morning, [3] but is also enjoyed throughout the day. Kaya can be found in most kopitiam and night markets.
Different varieties available include the nyonya kaya, which is of a lighter-green color, and Hainanese kaya, which is of a darker brown and uses caramelized sugar, [4] and is often further sweetened with honey.
In this region, kaya is also used as a topping for several desserts including pulut taitai or pulut tekan, a dessert of sweet glutinous rice colored blue with butterfly pea flowers (bunga telang), and pulut seri muka, a similar dessert but colored green due to adding pandan leaves. It is also used with glutinous rice to make kuih seri kaya.
Philippine coconut jam is known as matamís sa báo (also matamís na báo or minatamís na báo, among other names). The names literally mean "sweetened coconut". It is different from other Southeast Asian versions in that it uses coconut cream (kakang gata, the first and second press of grated coconut meat) and cane sugar extract or molasses (treacle). It also does not use eggs and thus is more like syrup rather than custard. It is often eaten on toast or pandesal or used as a filling for pan de coco. When it is mixed with ground glutinous rice paste, it becomes a popular dessert known as kalamay. [5]
A less viscous version made with coconut milk (gata) is known as latik (anglicized as "coconut caramel"), and is used in place of syrup in numerous native Filipino desserts. [6] [7]
The kaya of Thailand is called sangkhaya (Thai : สังขยา, pronounced [sǎŋkʰàjǎː] ) in Thai. There are two major types of kaya eaten in Thailand. One type is more liquid than the other, while the less thick kaya is similar to what is eaten in Malaysia and Indonesia. People either spread it on steamed or toasted bread or dip the bread into kaya. This kind of kaya is commonly sold by street vendors but has recently been brought into tea and coffee shops.
Another type is a concoction that has a less sticky and more custard-like texture. It is sometimes called "coconut custard" in English and is used to make sangkhaya fakthong (สังขยาฟักทอง, [sǎŋkʰàjǎːfáktʰɔ̄ːŋ] ; sangkhaya maryu in Lao), sangkhaya pumpkin or custard pumpkin, khao niao sangkhaya (ข้าวเหนียวสังขยา, [kʰâːwnǐawsǎŋkʰàjǎː] ), glutinous rice topped with sangkhaya, and sangkhaya maphrao (สังขยามะพร้าว, [sǎŋkʰàjǎːmāpʰráːw] ), sangkhaya served in a coconut.
Coconut jam is known in Samoa as siamu popo. The word siamu in Samoan is loaned from English "jam" and popo refers to a mature coconut that is used for eating, usually for the extraction of coconut cream. The preparation of siamu popo doesn’t require eggs, the sugar is caramelised and coconut cream and citrus leaves are added. [8] [9] It has a consistency resembling a mixture of syrup and caramel. Siamu popo is often used as a spread on toast and is used in desserts, most often used as a filling for a doughnut called german bun.
Glutinous rice is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast East Asia, the northeastern regions of India and Bhutan which has opaque grains, very low amylose content, and is especially sticky when cooked. It is widely consumed across Asia.
Malaysian cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices found in Malaysia, and reflects the multi-ethnic makeup of its population. The vast majority of Malaysia's population can roughly be divided among three major ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese and Indians. The remainder consists of the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, the Peranakan and Eurasian creole communities, as well as a significant number of foreign workers and expatriates.
Crème caramel, flan, caramel pudding, condensed milk pudding or caramel custard is a custard dessert with a layer of clear caramel sauce.
Malay cuisine is the traditional food of the ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia, residing in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the Philippines as well as Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ingredient used in Southeast Asia, Oceania, South Asia, and East Africa. It is also used for cooking in the Caribbean, Central America, northern parts of South America and West Africa, where coconuts were introduced during the colonial era.
Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and commonly other ingredients such as sweeteners, spices, flavourings and sometimes eggs.
Kuih are bite-sized snack or dessert foods commonly found in Southeast Asia and China. It is a fairly broad term which may include items that would be called cakes, cookies, dumplings, pudding, biscuits, or pastries in English and are usually made from rice or glutinous rice. In China, where the term originates from, kueh or koé (粿) in the Min Nan languages refers to snacks which are typically made from rice but can occasionally be made from other grains such as wheat. The term kuih is widely used in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, kueh is used in Singapore and Indonesia, kue is used in Indonesia only, all three refer to sweet or savoury desserts.
Bibingka is a type of baked rice cake in Filipino cuisine that is cooked in a terracotta oven lined with banana leaves and is usually eaten for breakfast or as merienda, especially during the Christmas season. It is also known as bingka in the Visayas and Mindanao islands.
Tangyuan are a traditional Chinese dessert made of glutinous rice shaped into balls that are served in a hot broth or syrup. They come in varying sizes, anything between a marble to a ping pong ball, and are sometimes stuffed with filling. Tangyuan are traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival, but because the name is a homophone for union and symbolizes togetherness and completeness, this dish is also served at weddings, family reunions, Chinese New Year, and the Dōngzhì festival.
In Vietnamese, the term bánh translates loosely as "cake" or "bread", but refers to a wide variety of prepared foods that can easily be eaten by hands or chopsticks. With the addition of qualifying adjectives, bánh refers to a wide variety of sweet or savory, distinct cakes, buns, pastries, sandwiches, and other food items, which may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from wheat flour or rice flour are generally called bánh, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle and fish cake dishes, such as bánh canh and bánh hỏi.
Kalamay is a sticky sweet delicacy that is popular in many regions of the Philippines. It is made of coconut milk, brown sugar, and ground glutinous rice. It can also be flavored with margarine, peanut butter, or vanilla. Kalamay can be eaten alone, but is usually used as a sweetener for a number of Filipino desserts and beverages. It is related to the Chamorro dessert called kalamai.
Pumpkin-coconut custard is a Southeast Asian dessert, consisting of a coconut custard steam-baked in a whole pumpkin or kabocha. It was created by Maria Guyomar de Pinha in Ayutthaya Kingdom in 17th century as an adaptation of a Portuguese egg-based dessert.
Latík refers to two different coconut-based ingredients in Filipino cuisine. In the Visayan region it refers to a syrupy caramelized coconut cream used as a dessert sauce. In the northern Philippines, it refers to solid byproducts of coconut oil production, used as garnishing for a variety of desserts.
Bubur ketan hitam, bubur pulut hitam or bubur injun is an Indonesian sweet dessert made from black glutinous rice porridge with coconut milk and palm sugar or cane sugar. The black glutinous rice are boiled until soft, and sugar and coconut milk are added. It is often described as "black glutinous rice pudding" and is very similar to black rice tong sui made from black rice. It is often served as dessert or snack, for supper, for tea time, anytime of the day; however, it is a popular choice for breakfast for those who prefer sweet treat instead of its savory counterpart bubur ayam.
Bua loi or bua loy is a Thai dessert. It consists of rice flour rolled into small balls, and cooked in coconut milk and sugar. Some Bua loi also adds sweet egg into the recipe. It was inspired by Tangyuan, a Chinese dessert that is traditionally eaten around the Lantern festival. Bua Loi is also traditionally eaten during the Dongzhi Festival in Thailand, which is a festival for the Chinese-Thai bloodline. There are a variety of versions of Bua loi such as ones that use food coloring instead of natural color, use soy milk instead of Coconut cream, add sliced pumpkin inside the rice balls, et cetera. There are other types of Bua loi from other countries such as China, Japan, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Southern Vietnam and Malaysia. 1 cup of Bua Loy has total calories of 295.5 kilocalories, protein of 10.4 grams, carbohydrate of 6.3 grams, and fat of 25 grams.
Khao niao sangkhaya or sticky rice with custard, is a traditional Thai dessert. It is prepared with glutinous rice, topped with coconut custard and coconut milk. Khao niao sangkhaya is served warm or at room temperature. The dessert is also found in other countries in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.