Coconut jam is a jam made from a base of coconut milk, eggs and sugar. It is popular in Southeast Asia, mainly in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
History
The origin of Kaya Jam is unclear, but it is believed to have been brought over from Portugal during the occupation of Melaka in the 15th century. The cuisine is claimed to have been invented by Portuguese descendants of Melaka. The current coconut jam served in southeast Asia, is highly similar to the Portuguese traditional cuisine, Doce De Ovos.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore
The word for coconut jam in the Malay language, kaya, means rich, referencing the texture of the popular food. For Malaysians, Indonesians and Singaporeans, kaya, also called srikaya, is a sweet creamy coconut spread made from coconut milk and duck or chicken eggs. The resulting color varies depending on the color ofthe 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, 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, and is often further sweetened with honey. In Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, 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, 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.
Philippines
Philippine coconut jam is known as matamís sa báo. The names literally mean "sweetened coconut". It is different from other Southeast Asian versions in that it uses coconut cream and cane sugar extract or molasses. 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. A less viscous version made with coconut milk is known as latik, and is used in place of syrup in numerous native Filipino desserts.
Thailand
The kaya of Thailand is called sangkhaya 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, sangkhaya pumpkin or custard pumpkin, khao niao sangkhaya, glutinous rice with sangkhaya, and sangkhaya maphrao, sangkhaya served in a coconut.
