What is commonly referred to as "kaya" belongs to a wider Malay repertoire of egg-based coconut confections known as serikaya. Award-winning writer and food historian Khir Johari tells the origins and meaning of serikaya, its common misconceptions and the different food he can concoct from the classic combination of eggs, sugar and coconut milk.

Khir Johari is an educator and food historian. In his book The Food of Singapore Malays (2021), he explores the gastronomy and cultural history of Singapore Malays. The book won Singapore’s Book of the Year 2022, Gourmand World Food Culture Award’s Best of the Best Book 2023, and its prestigious Best of the Last 25 Years. Following the success of his book, he founded “Dialogues by Khir Johari”, a platform for exploring Nusantara’s gastronomy through events and online discussions.

What Khir Talked About

  • 02:40 – Meaning of serikaya
  • 04:05 – Origins of serikaya and the Portuguese connection
  • 11:44 – Misconceptions about serikaya
  • 13:07 – Earliest literary references to serikaya
  • 15:39 – Importance of historical research in food studies
  • 19:13 – How common serikaya was in the past
  • 21:25 – Regional variations of serikaya
  • 24:55 – Different serikaya dishes in the “From Book to Cook” video
  • 27:33 – Kueh salat vs kueh putri salat
  • 29:23 – Agar-agar serikaya innovation
  • 31:24 – Evolution of serikaya over time
  • 35:15 – Early commercial kaya and tin labels
  • 40:02 – What makes a good kaya


Transcript and Resources

  • Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-serikaya-family-of-kaya-based-confections
  • Watch Khir make serikaya: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/video-kaya


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This episode of BiblioAsia Podcast was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Nookcha Films. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Khir for coming on the show.

Produced by the National Library Singapore, the BiblioAsia Podcast tells stories about Singapore history.

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