The straits fervour within me prompts me to introduce everyone to a Peranakan go-to snack: Kaya cake. Everyone has a different version of it. My Nonya grandmother prepared hers by layering rich Kaya on top of an equally decadent layer of rice.
I died and went to heaven. That’s how one feels after eating a slice of this baked phenomenon. The layer of Kaya gives one the sweet lift one needs at breakfast or tea time, while the sticky rice below, like jewels, gives this snack a burst of savoury zest. What can I say? When combined, there is an explosion of flavour in one’s mouth. (Note that teeth are jewels too).
Enjoy these tanka verses to the Kaya Cake.
Soft, green, viscous field
Sweet grass teases open cave
Closes, when two meet
Eager rumbling inside
A passionate explosion
Felt in recesses.
Blue-white, pearls divine
A rich, jewelled layer fine
Meets more pearls, so satisfied
Wondrous jewels now combined
In thunderous merger.
The Getting Literal Writing Alcove 