This Singapore Toast Is Sweet And Savory Perfection
SHARE
@foodinsing
Kaya toast is an iconic snack throughout coffeehouses in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. It’s often seen as the dulce de leche of Southeast Asia. Charcoal-grilled crustless bread is slathered with kaya, a creamy, sweet coconut jam, and a slice of cold salted butter. This is about as quintessential Singapore as you can get, alongside a cup of kopi — a dark, freshly roasted full-bodied brew that’s mixed with canned sweetened condensed milk, sugar and water. Kaya toast and kopi go together like PB&J.
The coconut jam is traditionally made by infusing beaten eggs with fresh pandan leaves and then mixing in coconut cream, palm sugar and a pinch of sea salt. The more pandan that’s used, the more intense of a greenish-yellow color the kaya will be. Legend has it that the custard-like coconut jam is the creation of the Hainanese galley who worked on British ships in Singapore. The snack was so popular that it made its way into Hainanese-run coffee houses.
While kaya toast can be made a slew of different ways, there’s a coffee house in Singapore, Tong Ah Eating House, that makes an unbeatable ultra crispy version. The bread is toasted three times with the blackened parts scraped off. Chin Mee Chin Confectionery makes killer kaya toast with fluffy buns that people can’t seem to get enough of. You can eat kaya toast by itself or do it like the locals and dip the bread in a combination of runny soft-boiled eggs with a splash of dark soy sauce and a sprinkle of white pepper. If you can score kaya jam you might just want to eat it straight out of the jar, it’s that good.
Next on
