INTRODUCTION

Whenever I think of kaya puff, it will bring me down the memory lanes of my University days in University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. Occasionally, I would travel from Section 17 and visited the Kota Raya area. One of the foods that I always bought was kaya puff that I purchased from Petaling Street. If I did not remember wrongly, it should be at the corner of Petaling Street near the book store. Whenever I  passed by that area, the rich buttery aroma would make me wanting to buy some back as breakfast.

That is how I get to know these kaya puffs and that is also the only kaya puff I have eaten. Surprisingly, I did not come across kaya puffs being sold since then be it in Singapore or other parts of Malaysia. Their puff is not the normal curry puff shape. It is slightly longer and thinner. Well, that make sense because too much kaya in the puff will make the puff overly sweet and a thin layer of kaya just complement the flaky pastry.

I have many Chinese flaky pastry recipes but I did not used them this time. I have also read through a few recipes in the internet but I do not think that is the type of pastry that I have eaten before. I remembered the puff I have eaten is very buttery. Well, it may not be butter but margarine but that was the unique flavour that i could not forget.

Therefore, instead of using vegetarian shortening or cooking oil or lard as required by other recipes, I have decided to use butter with the alternatives of ghee or margarine . Very frankly, butter is not the best choice for puff pastry as it is less crispy than using lard but it provides a unique flavour that complement this puff.

As for the kaya, the one I have eaten is the caramel kaya. The night before preparing these puffs, I have prepared some at home using the short cut method. Short cut method means you use high heat to cook the custard jam. After cooked, just blend it again and it only took me about 10 minutes to get the kaya done.

Why I have decided to use this method is because no matter how smooth is your kaya, after baking, it will come out to be the same texture. It will not be smooth anymore.  However, i will leave it to readers to decide if you wanted to use store bought or home preparation.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: Prepare About 12 puffs

Caramel Kaya

• 5 eggs
• 10 pieces of pandan leaves (optional)
• 300 ml or grams of coconut milk
• 200 grams of castor sugar

For Pandan Kaya, you can refer to this post: Coconut Egg Jam – Pandan Kaya (香兰加椰）And Caramel Kaya (焦糖加椰）

• About 500 grams of caramel kaya as above

Water Skin

• 200 grams of plain flour or medium protein flour
• 60 grams of butter/ghee/margarine
• 1 tablespoon of maltose
• 1/4 teaspoons of salt
• 90 ml or grams of water

Oil Skin

• 150 grams of cake flour or low protein flour
• 120 grams of butter/ghee/margarine

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Melt the sugar in a pan under medium heat until the sugar turn brownish. Off the heat and add coconut milk. Stir until the sugar dissolved. Note that when you add the coconut milk to the syrup, the sugar will recrystallized. Constant stirring will help to expedite the dissolving process. Keep aside for cooling.

• Once the coconut sugar solution have slightly cooled, add the beaten eggs. Transfer the mixture to a wok or pan. Using medium heat, cook the custard until set. Lumpy is okay and it will take about 5-8 minutes depending on your heat. Transfer the cooked custard to a blender. Blend until as fine as possible.

• Let it chill overnight in the fridge to harden the kaya before using it for the preparation of kaya puff.

• Pre-heat the oven to 190 degree Celsius.

• Put the plain flour, butter/ghee/margarine and maltose in a mixing bowl. Add the cold water and use a pair of chopsticks to stir until it forms a sticky dough. Lightly transfer to a floured surface and knead until it forms a smooth dough. Put it back to the mixing bowl, cover with a clingy wrap and let it rest for at least 20 minutes.

• For the oil dough, add the butter/ghee/margarine to the flour and lightly knead until it forms a dough. 

• Once rested, divide the dough into 12 equal pieces.

• Put an oil dough on top of a water dough. Seal the oil dough with the water dough, shape round again, set aside and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.

• Take a ball, use a rolling pin to roll the ball into a rectangular shape as evenly and as thin as possible. Roll it up like you are preparing Swiss roll.

• Turn the “Swiss roll” direction with the shorter side pointing at you. Use a rolling pin to roll it again in a rectangular shape as evenly and as thin as possible. Roll it up again like you are preparing Swiss roll.

• Take one portion, use a rolling pin to roll it into an oval shape of about 6” in length and 4 inches wide. Put 1-2 tablespoons of caramel kaya on the top half of dough. Fold the dough into an wallet shape.

• Clip/seal the edges into your preferred pattern and transfer to the baking tray.

• Egg wash the puff and for egg washing, crack one egg yolk, mix 1/2 tablespoon of water, stir, sift and apply.

• Bake in the pre-heated oven of 190 degree Celsius for 15-20 minutes or until your desired colour tone.

CONCLUSION

You have a choice of using homemade kaya or store bought kaya. You can also choose between pandan kaya or caramel kaya. But my advise is to use homemade kaya which is economical, fast and easy. As for the shape, this is the shape that I prefer but you can churn into any shape that you liked.

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