Kecap Manis

Kecap manis is a thick, sweetened soy sauce originating in Java, Indonesia, made by fermenting boiled soybeans and roasted grain into a paste before brewing it into a sauce and blending it with palm sugar, which can make up close to half the finished product. Compared to ordinary salty soy sauce, kecap manis has a much thicker, syrup-like consistency and a pronounced sweet, almost molasses-like flavor rather than a primarily salty one. It is an essential condiment across Indonesian cooking, used to season fried rice dishes such as nasi goreng, as a marinade base for grilled satay, and as the foundation of dipping sauces mixed with shallots and chilies.