When you think of soy sauce, chances are high that you’ll think of Japanese-style soy sauce (called shoyu in Japan), which is the kind most often available in grocery stores. But don’t be fooled — it’s not the only type on the market. There’s a huge range of Chinese soy sauces, for example, and some interesting Korean varieties too. But for something particularly unique, look to Indonesia, where there’s a version that mixes together sweet, briny, and tangy flavors.
It’s called kecap manis (sometimes the Dutch spelling “ketjap manis” is used, too, thanks to colonization), and it offers a much more multi-dimensional flavor than many other varieties of soy sauce out there. It starts out the same way as its Japanese cousin, with soybeans fermented in brine and koji mold (don’t worry, it’s totally safe). But while Japanese varieties stay simple with just water, salt, soybeans, koji, and sometimes wheat as primary ingredients, kecap manis features palm sugar, which contributes its distinctive caramelly and smoky flavor and syrupy texture. Varieties of kecap manis can also include other ingredients like fish sauce or spices like star anise, galangal (loosely similar to ginger), lemongrass, and makrut lime leaves. The exact formula varies depending on who’s making it, but the end product is sweet, rich, smoky, aromatic, and much more syrupy in texture compared to other versions.
How to use kecap manis
Kecap manis works wonders in a bunch of different settings and recipes. Unsurprisingly, it’ll crop up in Indonesian recipes like nasi goreng (a spicy fried rice with egg), soto ayam (Indonesian chicken noodle soup), and in the rich peanut sauce of gado-gado (a sort of salad with lots of spices, veggies, and tofu or tempeh). If you’re looking to cook some Indonesian dishes, nasi goreng is definitely a straightforward place to start.
However, it’s not the kind of condiment you’ll buy and then only use occasionally in specific recipes — it works a treat outside of these Indonesian staples. Marinades are a great setting for it, as it adds both a sweet and savory layer and the sugar in it can help to brown steaks when you cook them. That sugar also makes it work well for glazes on meats or fish. It’s also good to have on hand to add some umami richness to anything like a stew, a pan sauce, or a stir fry. With the thick consitency and complex flavor of kecap manis, it even stands alone as a formidable dipping sauce.
If you can’t seem to get your hands on kecap manis, you can try making an approximation at home. Buy some regular Japanese soy sauce and heat it gently with palm sugar and flavors like ginger and star anise until it’s thick and syrupy. But it’s worth searching for the deeply umami real thing.