Homemade Kaya (Coconut Egg Jam)

I've been keeping this kaya recipe for a long time. I have not attempt to make this because I have a loving mother in law whom has been blessing us with her homemade kaya all along. Whenever we ran out of kaya, she will make a new batch for us. We all love her kaya, it's the BEST!

So, if you are me, will you still make your own? No, right!

But this time round, it's an exceptional. Because my mom is here at my place for holidays, I wanted to show her how to make kaya from scratch. The ingredients are simple. If you want a good kaya, you will need to have FRESH coconut milk and FRAGRANT gula melaka.

For me, since I don't have fresh coconut milk, I used the packaged ones. I like to use M&S brand, be it powder form or liquid form, because it has the nearest taste to fresh coconut milk. At the end, my kaya still turned out yummy!

The steps are pretty easy. If you follow my recipe below, I'm sure you'll get a smooth fragrant kaya too! Hope you'll enjoy my recipe!

HOMEMADE KAYA (COCONUT EGG JAM)
(Recipe adapted from Kitchen Tigress)

Prep Time  : 5 mins
Cook Time : 20 mins
Total Time : 25 mins
Makes       : approx. 1 cup

Ingredients:
40g castor sugar
45g palm sugar/ gula melaka
200ml thick coconut milk
3-4 pandan leaves (cut into 7-10 cm length)
4 egg yolks

Directions:
1. In a thick-bottomed sauce pot, combine coconut milk, castor sugar, gula melaka and pandan leaves. Using medium-low heat, cook the coconut milk until gula melaka fully dissolved, stirring occasionally. This will only takes a few minutes. Off the heat.

2. In a medium bowl, lightly beaten the egg yolks. Pour half of the hot coconut milk mixture from the pot into the egg yolks in a slow stream, stirring at the same time. This process is the same as tempering sauce. You need to bring the temperature of the egg yolks to the nearest temperature as the coconut milk to avoid curdling.

3. Pour back the egg yolk mixture from the medium bowl to the pot, stir to combine both mixture. Using low heat, stir until it thicken, about 10-15 minutes, or longer, until it reaches the consistency you preferred.

4. Discard the pandan leaves using a pair of chopsticks, squeezing out every bit of the coconut egg jam from the leaves and pour the coconut egg jam into a jar. Leave to cool completely before closing with a lid.

Notes:
● In Step 1, be careful not to over boiled the coconut milk. If the gula melaka has not fully dissolved by the time the coconut milk starting to bubble up, off the heat, and let the residual heat continue to dissolve the gula melaka.

● In Step 2, DO NOT pour the coconut milk mixture ALL at once into the egg yolks, or else you will end up cooking the egg yolks and it will become curdly jam.

● Do not tie a knot on the pandan leaves, the mixture will get into the knot and it will be difficult to stir the mixture. It will also be messy to separate the pandan leaves from the coconut egg jam efficiently later.

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Make this recipe? Don't forget to snap a photo of it and tag #msyummyliciousrecipe on social media! I would love to see them! Enjoy my recipe!

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Chinese Style Steamed Fish

My children love to eat fishes, especially my princess! Be it steamed or deep fried, she can literally finishes a whole fish by herself. (Well, a whole fish here means 800g or less per fish)

Meanwhile on the other side..., my hubby is a little... hmm.. no, i meant is VERY finicky about fishes. He cannot takes even a tiny weeny smell of fishy smell, he would reject the whole dish! (But more shares for the kids! Haha...) That is why I must be very careful when I handle the fishes.

But also because of his high expectation, I was trained to cook 'fishy smell'-FREE fish dishes. First, I learn how to choose a fresh fish by looking at the eyes of the fish. If it is clear, then it is fresh. The clearer, the fresher! If the eyes has gone very blur, don't buy that, no matter how hard you try to clear off the fishy smell, there will still be a strong stench. And don't buy those fishes with bruises on its body, it may be a sign of stress during the struggle of getting caught. This can affect the quality of the fish.

Secondly, clean the fish thoroughly. Washed out everything from its cavity and head. There will be a blood line on its back bone. Pierce through the membrane and wash out the blood line. Don't leave any blood streaks, it will caused a fishy smell when it's cooked.

Thirdly, marinate the fish with a pinch of salt and white pepper powder. Just a pinch for both sides will do. Don't put too much of salt because we wanted to taste the sweet freshness of the fish, not a salted fish.

Lastly, before putting to steam, stuff spring onions and ginger slices in its cavity, top and bottom of the fish.

And that's it! With the 4 points above, I am sure you will never go wrong with this recipe. Happy cooking!

CHINESE STYLE STEAMED FISH

Prep Time  : 20 mins
Cook Time : 8 mins
Total Time : 28 mins
Serves       : 3 - 4 pax

Ingredients:
1 pc talapia fish/ your preferred fish (800g)
1 stalk spring onion, halves in length
8 slices ginger
A pinch of salt and white pepper

Sauce (Combine in a small bowl)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp hot water (*)

Topping
1 stalk spring onion, finely shredded
1cm ginger, thin strips
A handful of coriander
2 Tbsp peanut oil/ your preferred oil

Directions:
1. For even cooking, score the thickest part of the fish, making 2-3 deep cuts on its flesh down to the bone. (Be careful not to cut through the bone.)

2. Lightly season the fish with a pinch of salt and white pepper, and marinate for 5 -10 minutes.

3. Insert a slice of ginger in each incisions (**) and stuff its cavity with half stalk of spring onion and few ginger slices. Then use the remaining half stalk of spring onion as a base, together with a few ginger slices. Place the fish on the base and top with ginger slices again, the head and tail. Steam on high heat for 8-10 mins, depending on the size of your fish.

4. While the fish is steaming, get ready the sauce and hot oil.

5. When the fish is cooked, transfer the fish to a new plate. Garnish with fresh ginger strips, coriander and shredded spring onions. Pour the hot oil on top of the garnish in few batches, making a sizzle sound each time. Lastly pour the sauce mixture around the fish and serve immediately.

Notes:
(*) If you are keeping the fish water which is the water accumulated on the plate while steaming, you may omit adding water to the sauce mixture. I find that fish water is good to use when your fish is really fresh and you've cleaned it thoroughly. (But because I have a fussy hubby who can detect even a 0.01% of fishy smell, I rather discard the fish water.)

(**) For the bottom side of the fish, you can cut the ginger slices vertically halves before insert into the incisions. Because it is facing down on the plate, using a whole ginger slice might be too big.

● For better timing, usually i steam the fish for 7 mins 15 secs. After 7 mins 15 secs, i'll off the heat and let it sit in the wok, untouched. The residual heat will continue to cook the fish. And at this time, I will work on my sauce and hot oil. It takes less than a minute to get 2 Tbsp of oil to sizzling hot. But if you are making this dish for the first time, it is better to prepare everything in advance.

● If you are using a bigger fish, ie 1.2kg and above, you may use a chopstick under the fish for even heat circulation.

#msyummyliciousrecipe
Make this recipe? Don't forget to snap a photo of it and tag #msyummyliciousrecipe on social media! I would love to see them! Enjoy my recipe!

First Commenter...(+/-)

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