Falling for kaya, the sweet and luscious coconut jam so popular in Malaysia and Singapore isn’t difficult to do.  Most commonly served at breakfast on white bread or toast sandwiched with butter and a side of soft boiled egg, this meal started my day several times while visiting those two countries. Homemade kaya is a labor of love.

Scratch that. Labor, to me, indicates hard work and drudgery. Almost two hours of constant attended stirring is neither, but it certainly is a dedication of time. A proper polenta or risotto? Fast food in comparison, especially if you go the extra mile to prepare your coconut milk from scratch, as I did (I recommend trying this process at least once – surprising difference.). Kaya cooked low and slow over direct heat will caramelize the sugars and turn a deep reddish brown. With the addition of pandan leaves a murky green color is the end result. I did this batch even lower and slower in a double boiler setup, hence the sunny hue and a flavor reminiscent of the filling of the flaky egg custard tarts served at dim sum houses with a tropical top note of coconut.

I don’t own a toaster, but I do have a brick and a cast iron pan which creates thin, crackling crisp, buttery toast with this method I’ve devised out of necessity. I begin with a baguette a l’ancienne – purveyed from Clevelands own wonderful On The Rise Bakery – and cut off the ends. Using a serrated knife, cut the loaf widthwise into 4-5″ sections. Stand each section on end and carefully – I repeat, carefully -  slice off the top and bottom crusts, leaving just the sides encrusted (save the crusty remants to make bread crumbs). Next, slice each section lengthwise through the middle. Heat your pan to medium-low. Butter one side of your bread – that’s all you will need with the open crumb of the baguette a’lancienne – and lay the bread, buttered-side down into the hot pan and top with a brick. Cook slowly until the bottom is golden brown, flip, and repeat on the other side. Toast perfection. Unplugged.

Lau Pa Sat satay market, Singapore

Meanwhile, those sweethearts Kelly and Jose are cooking up some of my whole wheat spaghetti with kale and miso sunny side up over at Sensory Overload.