The word for coconut jam in the Malay language, kaya, means rich, referencing the texture of the popular food.

[2] It is made from coconut milk (locally known as 'santan') and duck or chicken eggs, flavored with pandan leaves and sweetened with sugar.

In this region, kaya is also used as a topping for several desserts including pulut taitai or pulut tekan, a dessert of sweet glutinous rice colored blue with butterfly pea flowers (bunga telang), and pulut seri muka, a similar dessert but colored green due to adding pandan leaves.

This kind of kaya is commonly sold by street vendors but has recently been brought into tea and coffee shops.

The preparation of siamu popo doesn’t require eggs, the sugar is caramelised and coconut cream and citrus leaves are added.

Siamu popo is often used as a spread on toast and is used in desserts, most often used as a filling for a doughnut called german bun.