Saturday, June 19, 2010
Food In Singapore 6: Kaya Toast

Today, I will be talking about a popular item of a typical Singaporean breakfast, Kaya Toast.

What is Kaya Toast?

Kaya toast is a popular “snack” in Malaysia and Singapore. It consists of two pieces of break toasted and spreaded with kaya, margarine, or butter. This snack is usually eaten for breakfast, together with a cup of tea or coffee and one or two half boiled eggs.

[Kaya is coconut jam made of eggs, sugar and coconut milk and flavored with pandan]

It is sold in most coffee shops of Singapore; there are even shops that specialize in selling this, such as the famous Ya Kun Kaya Toast franchise.

Personal Opinion
Note that I totally skipped the preparing of this dish because the steps are too simple. It only involves toasting bread and spreading the kaya/margarine/butter onto the toast. However, do not be misled by this into thinking that preparing this dish is very easy. For this dish to taste nice, it takes a lot of skill and experience (not that I have any of it…). It also depends on the type of ingredients used.



First of all, I think that the toasting of the bread is really important. Although the snack can be prepared on untoasted bread, toasting the bread will make it taste nicer. However, toasting is not all; toasting for the correct amount of time is important too. If it is toasted for too short time, the toasting will not take effect. However, toasting the bread for too long will cause it to be burnt and thus ruin the taste. Toasting to the point whereby it is crispy and is not burnt is optimum.

Secondly, I think that the Kaya used is very important too. Note that I’m only using Kaya as an example because I don’t like eating Toast with margarine or butter. Anyway, the “quality” of the Kaya must be good and taste nice. This is because it contributes to most of the taste of the snack. Also, the layer of Kaya spreaded should not be too thick as it will be too strong and overpower the entire taste of the snack and it must not be too thin as the taste will not be strong enough and will not taste nice.

Thus, I personally think that preparing a good Kaya Toast may not be as easy as it seems (:

Food for Thought

There are many combinations of eating Kaya Toast:
Bread: toasted or untoasted?
Drink: Coffee, tea or none?
Egg: 1 egg? 2 eggs? Or none?
Spread: Kaya? Margarine? Butter
I’m sure that all of you have different taste and preferences. Post your favourite combination in the comments section, and tell me why!

Credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaya_toast
http://www.grampianspyreneespcp.org.au/Image/Agency%20Logos/Food%20For%20Thought%20Logo%20Reversed.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Kaya_Toast_with_Coffee.jpg
http://www.soshiok.com/images/0000/0618/Ya_Kun_Kaya_Toast_Set.jpg