Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Velkommen til Oslo Pandanus Amaryllifolius!


I wasn't sure what the girlfriend meant when she said her boys are jam-monsters and in the one Singaporean trait in their distinctly non-Singaporean habits, put away a ton of kaya in a week. As I watched the giant tub of homemade kaya rapidly diminish and demolished within seven days, I realized she wasn't kidding.

Each time she visits family in Singapore, she goes home with at least two giant tubs of homemade kaya, among other things. The tubs disappear so fast. Store-bought bottled kaya is great as emergency supplies, but it isn't really an option if you want to control sugar portions. She makes kaya at home in Oslo, but making it with dried-out pandan leaves or extract isn't satisfying either. Fresh leaves are best. Apparently nurseries in the city don't sell pandan plants. When we flew to Oslo, two stalks of pandan plants came along. :P

(If you're transporting plants overseas, let your pandan plants sit in water for two days, rinse a couple of times, then take the actual plants to AVA for inspection and pay for certs for soiless export.)

Pandan plants are happiest in water when they're young and without woody roots yet. They're also easy to propagate. But they don't like the cold. So here, it's an indoor plant. So far, these two stems seem to be growing rather well. They've been placed in a warm spot that's flushed with non-direct sunlight for two hours a day. Perfect. They'll soon be able to provide the essential ingredient to make kaya and more.

I don't fancy kaya toast. I can eat it once in a while, but it doesn't do anything for me. Although I prefer Killiney Kopitiam's to Ya Kun's toasted-to-a-crisp cracker version. Still, I gamely tried this homemade kaya. The girlfriend simply piled it on and passed the slice to me, smirking. *gulp* Gotta say it's good. Rich and made with surprisingly little sugar. It wasn't cloying. I quite like this version of kaya with awesome smør on this type of toasted bread.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow didn't even know they had a cert for soiless plants. Well done!

On the fairytales, I remember reading the Twelve Wild Ducks as a child - it made me sad!

A cool modern not princessy princess tale I really like reading to K is "A paper bag princess". packs a punch - POW.

imp said...

Hahaha. We really wanted to take those plants out of town.

I remember that story! I was read that tale as a kid. LOVE IT.