Gelang Patah · Johor
Twelve hours over a double boiler with eggs, creamy coconut milk, and the fragrance of fresh pandan leaves. No pandan essence, no preservatives, just the way we have always made it.
What goes in
Read the back of a supermarket jar and you will find nine or ten, most of them preservatives. Ours has pandan, coconut and egg, plus the sugar that sets them. Nothing after that.
Pandanus amaryllifolius
Cut from our own garden on the morning it goes into the pot. Pandan gives up its scent slowly and loses it fast, which is why nothing here is ever brought to a boil.
The colour it leaves behind is a soft jade — and it is the aroma, not the colour, that we buy it for.
Creamy coconut milk
Mature kelapa from the wet market, used the same morning it is bought. With creamy coconut milk is rich enough to set on its own; a thinner one would need starch, and starch is not an ingredient here.
This is the ingredient that makes kaya rich rather than merely sweet.
Eggs
Whole eggs, yolks and all. The yolk is both the thickener and the colour — there is no cornstarch and no colouring doing that job for it.
Deeper yolks make a deeper kaya. We pay more for them for exactly that reason.
“Kalau tak sempat kacau, beli je.”
If you haven't got time to stir it, just buy it. — Ehsan Roti, 1984
Since 1984
The rule is simple: twelve hours. There are easier ways to make kaya, but we've never found one that tastes like home. So after all these years, we still stand by the stove.
Operating as a traditional mobile vendor on a motorcycle, brought daily staples straight into the neighborhoods. The core offerings were simple but beloved: Roti Sapu Keping, Roti Bun Sapu, and Traditional Kaya.
To guarantee absolute freshness, the family grows their own pandan at home and harvest it as needed.
Transitioned operations entirely to the home, continuing to supply the established community directly from the house.
The batch size has grown; the method has not moved an inch.
The method
Pandan leaves are washed, cut, and tied into knots before use. This helps release their fragrance and flavour during cooking while making them easy to remove afterward.
Freshly grated coconut, pressed the traditional way for its first and finest extraction. Undiluted richness in every bite.
Whole eggs are whisked with cane sugar, then passed through a fine sieve twice so no strand of white makes it into the pot.
Low, indirect heat, and a figure-of-eight that never stops. Rush this and the egg scrambles; walk away and it catches. It is finished when the custard holds the trail of the spoon.
One last pass through the sieve while it is still warm, for anything the twelve hours did not dissolve. This is the difference between good kaya and smooth kaya.
Order
Self-collect from the kitchen only for now — we are not couriering kaya until we can do it cold, properly.
Small-batch kaya, stirred for twelve hours with love. Delicious on toast, biscuits, crackers, and more.
RM 9
Add to order
Soft, fluffy pull-apart buns filled with margarine and our homemade kaya.
RM 8
Add to order
Classic kaya sandwiches, generously spread with margarine and our homemade kaya.
RM 9
Add to orderWholesale and café pricing available — talk to us.
What people say
Good to know
Three weeks refrigerated, unopened. Two weeks once you have opened it. There are no preservatives holding it together, so it keeps like something you made at home — because it is.
Yes, always. Fresh egg and coconut milk with no preservative will not sit happily on a shelf in Malaysian weather.
While we do not currently have a JAKIM Halal certification, we assure you that our products are made using halal ingredients and do not contain any non-halal components.
Not yet — come to the kitchen instead. Message us on WhatsApp and we will agree a time that suits you.
We're keeping things small and homemade for now, but we're always happy to chat! Drop us a message for café or event orders, and we'll see what sweet deal we can work out together.
Handmade in small batches
Often sold out. Reserve a cup and we'll message you when it's ready for collection.
Self-collect only — come to us
Roti Kaya Legend (Ehsan Roti)
Kampung Melayu Baru Wawasan,
81550 Iskandar Puteri, Johor
Message us before you set off — the kitchen is a working one and we would rather not have you standing outside a locked door.