Sweet soy sauce

This sauce is dark and thick.

It comes from Indonesia. It is called kecap manis. People make it with black beans and sugar. It can have spices like cinnamon too. It tastes very sweet and rich. People use it on rice and chicken. It is also good on grilled meat. It makes many meals taste great!

Imagine a sauce that is dark and thick.

It looks like a rich syrup. This sauce is called kecap manis. It comes from Indonesia. It is the most common soy sauce there. It makes up 90 percent of all soy sauce made in the nation.

To make it, people use black soybeans. They boil the beans into a paste. They add brine and a special mold. Then they add a lot of palm sugar. This sugar makes the sauce very sweet. Some sauce has 50 percent palm sugar. People may also add spices. These spices include cinnamon and clove. They also use pepper and star anise.

Kecap manis is used in many ways. People use it in fried rice and noodles. It is great on roasted chicken. It is also used to marinate grilled meat like satay. Some people mix it with chili to make a dipping sauce. In the 1990s, many children ate rice with eggs and this sauce. Many brands make it. Some are big brands like Bango or ABC. Many small local brands also exist. You can find it in many stores around the world.

Imagine a sauce that is dark and thick.

It looks like a rich, heavy syrup. This sauce is called kecap manis. It comes from Indonesia. It is the most popular soy sauce in that country. In fact, it makes up about 90 percent of all soy sauce made there. People love its sweet and savory taste. It adds a special flavor to many meals.

Making this sauce is a careful process.

First, people boil black soybeans into a paste. They mix this paste with roasted grain and brine. They also use a special mold called Aspergillus wentii. This helps the ingredients ferment. Then, they add a lot of palm sugar. This sugar can make up 50 percent of the sauce. Some versions also include spices like cinnamon or clove. They might add star anise, pepper, or coriander too.

Kecap manis is a very important part of Indonesian cooking.

It adds a mild sweet and umami flavor to food. People use it in dishes like nasi goreng or fried rice. It is also used in mie goreng and kwetiau goreng. You might find it in chicken dishes like ayam kecap. It is great for meat stews like semur. It also works well as a marinade for grilled satay. Some people even mix it with chili for dipping.

Many different brands of this sauce exist.

Some are large brands like Bango or ABC. Other big names include Indofood and Sedaap. There are also about one hundred regional brands. These include Ikan Lele from Pati and Mirama from Semarang. Some brands even sell sauce in the Netherlands. You can find names like Conimex or Kaki Tiga there. These brands help share the taste of Indonesia with the world.

Finding this sauce can depend on where you live.

It is easy to find in Indonesian markets or Asian grocery stores. It is harder to find in most of Europe. However, you can find it in the UK, France, and Germany. It is also scarce in the Americas. If you cannot find it, you can try a substitute. You can mix regular soy sauce with brown sugar. Adding a little molasses can help make it taste similar.

Sweet soy sauce is a distinctive, aromatic condiment from Indonesia. It is known as kecap manis. This sauce has a very dark color and a thick, viscous consistency. It feels like a heavy syrup when poured. Its flavor is deeply sweet and similar to molasses. This unique profile comes from adding large amounts of palm sugar. People use it to bring a mild sweet and umami flavor to many meals.

The production of kecap manis involves a specific fermentation process. It begins with a paste made from boiled black soybeans. Makers mix this paste with roasted grain and brine. They also include a specific mold called Aspergillus wentii. This mold is essential for the fermentation of the ingredients. Once the base is ready, palm sugar is added to the mixture. This sugar is often called gula merah or gula jawa. In some recipes, the sauce may contain up to 50 percent of this palm sugar. Some versions are also enriched with various spices. These might include star anise, cinnamon, black pepper, coriander, or clove.

Kecap manis is a vital part of Indonesian cuisine. It is by far the most common type of soy sauce used in the country. It accounts for an estimated 90 percent of all soy sauce production in Indonesia. While regular soy sauce, or kecap asin, is mildly salty, kecap manis is much sweeter and thicker. It is similar to the Chinese Tianmian sauce, also called tianmianjiang. However, kecap manis is considered to have a finer flavor. This makes it a staple in almost every Indonesian pantry.

There are many ways to use this sauce in daily cooking. It is a key ingredient in fried rice dishes like nasi goreng. It is also used in mie goreng and kwetiau goreng. For meat dishes, it is used in ayam kecap, which is roasted chicken. It is also used in babi kecap, which is braised pork. Other uses include semur, a type of beef stew, and ketoprak.

Kecap manis is also very popular as a marinade for grilled foods. It works well for satay, ayam bakar, or grilled chicken. It is also used for ikan bakar, which is grilled fish. Some people use it to make a dipping sauce. They mix it with chopped shallot and bird's eye chili. This is often served with tahu goreng, or fried tofu. In Eastern Indonesia, it is used for a dipping sauce called colo-colo. Traditionally, the Maluku version of this sauce uses black-colored coconut oil residue.

Many different brands of kecap manis exist throughout the region. Historically, it was often produced by small-scale home industries. Today, several large brands are distributed widely across Indonesia. These include ABC, Bango, Indofood, and Sedaap.

There are also about one hundred regional brands. Examples include Ikan Lele from Pati and Mirama from Semarang. Other regional brands include Orang Jual Sate from Probolinggo and Siong Hin from Tangerang. Some brands like Tomat Lombok come from Tegal.

Some brands are even available in the Netherlands. These include Conimex, Inproba, Kaki Tiga, and the "A" Trade Mark. Finding the sauce depends on your location. It is easy to find in Indonesian marketplaces, warungs, or supermarkets. It is also available in Asian grocery stores worldwide. However, it is hard to find in most of Europe. You can find it in the UK, France, and Germany, but elsewhere it is less common. It is also scarce in the Americas. If you cannot find it, you can make a substitute. You can mix regular soy sauce with brown sugar. Adding a trace of molasses can help mimic the real flavor.