カヤ ・ Kaya


もう半年以上カヤトーストを食べたくて、どうしよう!日本に帰ってから、インポートショップに入る度に、「もしかしてここにおいてる」と思っちゃって、探す。いつもない。日本語で「カヤ」を検索しても、何も出てこうへん。今日も、ネットで買えないかと思って、検索してたら、たまたまレシピーのページにたどり着いた。

作り方は、びっくりするぐらい簡単で、早速今夜試しました。卵1個を砂糖45gとよく混ぜて、ココナッツミルクを100ml加えて、湯煎でゆっくり、混ぜながら、暖める。80度になったところで、カヤは固まり始める。よく混ぜ続きながら、後2、3分温めると、出来上がり。

おいしい!久しぶりな味!

I've been craving kaya for more than half a year now. Didn't get any in SF, and ever since coming back to Japan, every time I pass an import shop, I search the shelves for kaya, yet none is ever available. Searching for kaya in Japanese yields no results, either; for some reason this product just didn't make it into the Japanese market.

Today I tried to see if I can find somewhere on the web that sells kaya and ships to Japan, and stumbled upon a recipe. It turned out so simple that I decided to try it out as one of my midnight cooking experiments.

To one egg thoroughly mixed with 45 grams of sugar, add 100 ml of coconut milk, and slowly heat on a double boiler for about 8 minutes, whisking constantly. Once the temperature reached 80 degrees (I stuck a thermometer between the wires of the whisk), the mixture started thickening. Probably the ovalbumin denaturing; good to be able to verify the temperature in practice. I kept it in the 80-85 range for a while, and once no more change was visible anymore, raised the temperature some more. At 87, another round of thickening happened. Cooking for Geeks doesn't list any proteins in eggs that should denature at that temperature, but perhaps there are some in coconut milk, though it's not supposed to have much. I don't imagine that diluting the egg should do anything to the temperature at which proteins denature.

Anyway, this must be the most rewarding thing I've been able to do in the kitchen in ten minutes, ever. I was really happy to eat kaya toast with tea.