Kecap manis

Sweet soy sauce

A bottle of Indonesian Kecap Manis
Type	Cooking sauce and condiment
Place of origin	Indonesia
Region or state	Nationwide in Indonesia
Main ingredients	Fermented soy sweetened with palm sugar molasses
Variations	Soy sauce, mild sweet soy sauce

Sweet soy sauce (Indonesian: kecap manis) is an Indonesian sweetened aromatic soy sauce, which has a dark colour, a thick syrupy consistency and a unique, pronounced, sweet and somewhat molasses-like flavor due to the generous addition of palm sugar.Kecap manis is widely used with satay. It is similar, though finer in flavor, than Chinese sweet bean sauce (tianmianjiang). It is by far, the most popular type of soy sauce employed in Indonesian cuisine, accounts for an estimated 90 percent of the nation's total soy sauce production.

Compared to mildly salty regular soy sauce, the sweet soy sauce has a slightly thicker consistency, and tastes much sweeter. This condiment is made from a fermented paste of boiled black soybeans, roasted grain, salt, water and Aspergillus wentii molds, to which palm sugar is added. The strong sweet taste is contributed by a generous amount of palm sugar — the sauce may contain up to 50 percent gula merah or gula jawa (palm sugar jaggery). Indonesian sweet soy sauce is often enriched with spices, including star anise, cinnamon, black pepper, coriander and clove.

Kecap manis is an essential sauce in the Indonesian pantry. It is used to add a pleasantly mild sweet and umami flavor in most popular Indonesian dishes; including nasi goreng, mie goreng, kwetiau goreng, semur beef stew, and ketoprak. It is also a popular marinade for grilled dishes, such as satay, ayam bakar (grilled chicken) and ikan bakar (grilled fish). Sweet soy sauce is also a popular dipping sauce, mixed with chopped shallot and bird's eye chili and served as dipping sauce to accompany tahu goreng (fried tofu). Steamed rice topped with sunny side fried egg and drizzled with sweet soy sauce is a simple yet popular meal among Indonesian children. Today, sweet soy sauce is used as the ingredient of colo-colo dipping sauce, although traditionally this Maluku sauce uses black colored rendered coconut oil residue.