Khanom Pang Sangkaya (ขนมปังสังขยา)

The Custard Thailand Never Tires Of

ขนมปังสังขยา is two things and one idea: bread, and sangkaya, the Thai coconut-egg custard — sweet, rich and usually pandan-green. SGE Thai calls it the snack no one ever gets bored of, eaten with bread or patongko, the fried dough sticks. The green comes from pandan leaves, not colouring: Wongnai's cook describes the family original as sangkaya tinted green with pandan cut from the garden behind the house, and her pandan recipe insists on real pandan water — "ไม่ใส่สีผสมอาหาร", no food colouring.

The dish has three forms, all sold at the same morning markets. The café form is toast: bread fried in a dry pan until golden, served with a cup of warm custard and a drizzle of evaporated milk — Wongnai's ขนมปังสังขยาใบเตย. The old-shop form is steamed bread: thick slices cut bite-size and steamed soft, eaten beside the custard bowl — the same Wongnai cook's egg-custard version, and SGE Thai's butterfly-pea custard served with steamed bread. And the market form is a filled bun: TrueID's seller recipe bakes soft rolls, pierces them and pipes the custard in until it overflows — the version you buy at fairs, wrapped in plastic.

There is also a doctrinal split over the custard itself. Aroifin is explicit: the ancient recipe thickens with eggs alone — no flour, no starch — while what it calls the "normal" modern sangkaya adds corn starch. Both appear below; both are served the same way, with bread and evaporated milk.

The Recipe (toast version, from Wongnai)

The ancient flourless bowl (Aroifin, by mimi): 2 eggs, 1 cup fresh milk (or coconut milk), ¾ cup sugar, 2 tsp concentrated pandan water (pandan leaves blended with a little water and strained), 1 tsp vanilla (optional), ¼ cup evaporated milk plus more for the top — thickened by egg alone, no starch, ~25 minutes, 4 servings. The double-boiled egg custard (Wongnai, น้องหลุมดำ): 2 duck eggs, 80 g palm sugar, 40 g brown sugar, 250 ml coconut milk, 50 ml evaporated milk, 30 g corn starch, cooked over boiling water for ~20 minutes — a soft-orange custard served with steamed bread. The filled-bun batch (TrueID, แม่ซี น้องมดดี้): a full bread dough (440 g bread flour, milk, yeast, 100 g sugar, 50 g butter) proofed, baked at 150°C with the fan on for 10–15 minutes, then piped with pandan custard (150 ml pandan water from 7 leaves, 3 eggs, 150 ml milk, 300 ml head coconut milk, 4½ tbsp corn starch, 225 g sugar, 60 g butter) until it overflows.

The Method

1. The toast. Heat a dry pan over medium heat and toast the bread until golden and crisp on both sides — no butter, Wongnai's recipe toasts it plain so the custard carries the fat.
2. The custard base. Pour the fresh milk into a pot, then the pandan water, sugar, condensed milk, salt, corn starch and eggs. Stir until there are no lumps of starch — several cooks strain the mixture through a sieve at this point for a silky custard.
3. The stir. Cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until the mixture thickens. The moment it holds a whisk mark, it is done. Every source agrees on the stirring; none agree on the heat — see below.
4. The finish. Spoon the warm custard into cups and drizzle evaporated milk (นมข้นจืด) over it. Wongnai's rule: the drizzle goes on last, never into the pot.
5. Serve. Toast on the plate, custard in the cup, dip and eat. For the steamed version, cut thick-sliced bread into bite-size pieces, steam 3 minutes over a gentle boil, and serve the pieces around the bowl of custard.

Where Thai Sources Disagree

How Western Versions Get It Wrong

• Calling it kaya. Malaysian/Singaporean kaya jam and Thai sangkaya share a coconut-custard ancestor, but kaya is a slow-caramelised jam spread cold; sangkaya is a fresh cooked custard served warm with milk poured over. Swap them and you lose the dish.
• Pandan essence instead of pandan water. Wongnai's recipe is explicit — real pandan water, no food colouring. A drop of green essence gives the colour and none of the aroma; the custard reads flat and vaguely floral.
• Skipping the evaporated-milk drizzle. Every Thai source finishes with นมข้นจืด poured over the custard. Without it the custard is one-note sweet; the drizzle is the signature, not a garnish.
• Treating it as crème anglaise. Anglais is yolks, cream and a delicate pour. Sangkaya is whole eggs, milk or coconut milk, heavy sugar, and a decisive thickening — starch or long stirring — cooked far past anglais. A thin pouring custard is the wrong texture.
• Cold bread. The bread must be hot — toasted crisp or steamed soft. Cold shop bread turns the whole thing into a sweet, sad sandwich.

UK Ingredient Notes

• Pandan leaves (ใบเตย): frozen at Thai grocers year-round. Blend a few leaves with water and strain for the pandan water — the frozen leaf is far stronger than anything bottled.
• Evaporated milk (นมข้นจืด): every UK supermarket carries it — the Carnation tin is exactly the Thai product's job. Don't confuse it with sweetened condensed milk; the Thai recipe uses both, for different things.
• Sweetened condensed milk: standard UK supermarket stock.
• Bread: the Thai recipes mean thick-sliced white bread. A soft supermarket bloomer cut thick works; Wongnai's steam version wants a slice that won't dissolve.
• Coconut milk: for the egg custard (250 ml) and for Aroifin's flourless version if you swap the milk — use the tinned Thai brands, not the drinkable cartons.
• Corn starch: the UK name for แป้งข้าวโพด (cornflour); the same box in every supermarket.

Sources

This recipe is translated from the following Thai-language sources. Where they disagree, we've said so.