Homemade Kaya Jam

Egg prices have been on the rise recently but that is not deterring me from baking!  There are just so so SO many things in queue now that I want to bake and try to cook.  24 hours a day is never enough, for me!

Back home yesterday after work, I had no plan to cook, bake or make anything.  I just wanted to bathe, have dinner, laze on my comfy sofa and watch TV (and maybe read up food blogs and bookmark any interesting recipes).  I did kept to my plan until I came across this one recipe that jotted me up.  I had to do this - the kaya jam!  

The jam went right into a cleaned glass bottle.

I am sold. I could make these anytime when I feel like it.

No more jams with those unhealthy preservatives!

I had all the 5 ingredients that were called for in the recipe and I had no reasons to sit and wait till the next time to try this out.  All I need was just 30 minutes all-in-all?  I managed to convinced myself and I was back in my little kitchen in no time.  So much for planning to laze and rest.  I can only say that some things in life do not go according to plan :P 

Hubby came by into the kitchen and asked what was I doing.  Kaya jam was my answer to him and he gave the "Oh!  Wow!" answer and sink back into his sofa.

In merely 30 minutes' time, I showed Hubby what I had made and he was impressed.  Homemade Kaya jam, made at the comfort of my home. 

My dear Hubby asked me to make some plain white bread to go along with the homemade Kaya jam.  Okay, but his white bread has got to wait - I already have something that I wanna make to pair with those homemade Kaya jam!

Homemade Kaya Jam
Recipe by JewelPie

45g Palm sugar / gula melaka
200ml Coconut milk, undiluted (I used Kara brand coconut milk)
4 to 5 pieces of Pandan leaves
4 egg yolks
3 tbsp sugar (I used brown sugar)

1. Whisk egg yolks and set aside. 

2. In a small pot, pour in coconut milk and palm sugar. 

3. In a low heat, melt palm sugar. Stir throughout.
4. Add pandan leaves and another 3 tbsp sugar into the pot.  Cook in high heat.  Stir until sugar is melted and coconut milk bubbles.
5. When flavoured coconut milk is hot, turn down the heat.  With one hand, slowly pour it into egg yolks and another, whisk the egg yolks. 

I tied the pandan leaves and squashed it a little to bring out some of the pandan fragrance before adding it into the coconut milk solution.

How the jam solution got from watery state to the thickened jam form. This change took roughly 10 minutes.

6. Pour egg yolks back into the pot.  Let it simmer and stir throughout.  The solution will thicken.  It should take about 10 minutes.  If it's not sweet enough, you can add more sugar. (I did not have to add more sugar because the jam was sweet enough)
7. Discard pandan leaves with a pair of chopstick and tongs.  The kaya would be sticking on the leaves, remove them with chopsticks.
8. Transfer to a bottle.  Let cool, cover and refrigerate.  It should keep up to a week or longer.

Notes:
- Use fresh coconut milk if you can.  It tastes much better.
-  To ensure that it can be kept longer, sterilise bottle with hot water and use a clean spoon to scoop the jam.