Vegetarian kaya recipe, steamed bread

Vegetarian Kaya is a rich coconut spread or jam, here I have made it with mung bean instead of eggs. Usually pumpkin or sweet potato is used for vegetarian option. I thought of trying it with green mung bean.

I saw this steamed bread in Ya kun Kaya toast restaurant, here in Singapore. Kaya is very famous in Singapore, though various restaurants kopitiyams sell, some toast shops are really famous selling toasts with kaya. They use their own breads. I have tasted butter sugar toast and it was really good. The steamed bread will have bread with extra thickness.

When Vj first told there is one such thing called steamed bread, I mistook for steamed buns and thought instead of baking, buns are being steamed and served. Then only realized it is bread slices sandwiched with kaya and a piece of butter.

Yes, you will literally see a chunk of butter in between the breads, be it toast, be it steamed bread. Then why not it is delicious 😋. I have bought this koptiam bread loaf in fairprice here in Singapore. You must have seen in my spinach cheese toast. It is extra soft and long, extra thick too. So thought this would be the perfect one for this steamed bread.

Even before I thought of trying a vegan version of Kaya, I got this bread and steamed to see the result first. I have Instagramed it last week and it is the top viewed video so far in my Instagram profile. I tried with fruit Jam. Have a look at the video to see how soft the bread becomes when it is steamed 😍😎.

Coming to today’s recipe verdict. Proper kaya is prepared with eggs and coconut milk with sugar and pandan flavour. Since I have used mung bean, it was slightly dense. I was aware I may not be able to recreate the exact taste but something close. I chose mung bean mainly for it’s colour. And being a south Indian having tried pooranams, I wanted something close to it too. Do try this different spread for your bread, you can steam it like I have did, sandwiched between breads or even spread over a toast with butter.

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Vegetarian Kaya

Vegetarian Kaya is a rich coconut spread or jam, here I have made it with mung bean instead of eggs. Usually pumpkin or sweet potato is used for vegetarian option.

Course Condiments

Cuisine Fusion

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Soaking time 10 hours

Servings 1 cups

Cup measurements

Ingredients

• Mung bean – ½ cup
• Coconut milk – 1 cup
• Sugar – ¾ cup
• Pandan leaves – 2

Instructions

• Soak mung bean over night. Drain the water, add 2 cups water and pressure cook for 5 whistles until soft.
• Cool down completely and grind smoothly.
• In a heavy bottomed pan or nonstick pan, add the ground paste. Stir in the coconut milk.
• Add sugar, pandan leaves (tied to a knot) if adding. I used readymade coconut milk with pandan flavour in it, so skipped adding pandan leaves.
• Keep stirring to avoid getting stuck to the bottom of the pan.
• As the mixture gets cooked, it gets a shine. Switch off the flame once it reaches a thick, still dripping consistency as shown in the picture.
• After it cools down, it gets thicker. So switch off accordingly. You should be able to spread this kaya easily, so do not cook thick.
• Once cooled down, store in bottles and keep refrigerated.
• To make steamed bread, trim off the brown crust and spread the kaya in one slice of bread. Spread butter generously on the other slice and cover it up.
• Cut into bit size pieces. Be very gently while you cut the slice, without affecting the texture.
• Steam the bread pieces (after water starts boiling)in a steamer for 3 minutes.

Notes

• I used readymade coconut milk we get here. If using fresh, make sure to use thick coconut milk.
• Mung bean should be cooked until soft. Otherwise, texture will not be smooth.
• Make sure to stir continuously to avoid getting burnt at the bottom.While cooling the mixture also, I recommend to stir the mixture continuously as otherwise the mixture might form layers which will affect the texture of the spread.
• Use milk bread or some soft variety of bread. Preferably extra thick.
• Switching off when the kaya is runny is very important for its soft texture after cooling down.
• As I said,the spread was denser. So I thought i should try to reduce mung bean and sugar and try how it turns out. 

Vegetarian kaya Step by step pictures

1. Soak mung bean over night. Drain the water, add 2 cups water and pressure cook for 5 whistles until soft.
2. Cool down completely and grind smoothly.
3. In a heavy bottomed pan or nonstick pan, add the ground paste. Stir in the coconut milk.
4. Add sugar, pandan leaves (tied to a knot) if adding. I used readymade coconut milk with pandan flavour in it, so skipped adding pandan leaves.
5. Keep stirring to avoid getting stuck to the bottom of the pan.
6. As the mixture gets cooked, it gets a shine. Switch off the flame once it reaches a thick, still dripping consistency as shown in the picture. As it cools down, it gets thicker. So switch off accordingly. You should be able to spread this kaya easily, so do not cook thick.
7. Once cooled down, store in bottles and keep refrigerated.
8. To make steamed bread, trim off the brown crust and spread the kaya in one slice of bread. Spread butter generously on the other slice and cover it up.
9. Cut into bit size pieces. Be very gently while you cut the slice, without affecting the texture.
10. Steam the bread pieces (after water starts boiling)in a steamer for 3 minutes.

Steamed bread will be extra soft only when had hot, so have it hot. Otherwise its just a regular bread with some spread in it.