DIY Indonesian Sweet Soy Sauce with Trader Joe’s

When you can’t buy it in the store, you got to make it yourself! I remember my late aunt Rora from Long Island, she made her own Indonesian sweet soy sauce. She had a bottle in the kitchen cabinet, close to the stove. She used a piece of medical bandaid tape for a label that said: kecap manis. It tasted real good!

Even until today, it’s hard to find kecap manis in American supermarkets. You can find all kinds of soy sauces. But the Indonesian sweet soy sauce is hard to source. Unless, of course, you go to specialty import stores like Dutch and Indonesian grocery stores.

Sweet soy sauce is a sweetened aromatic soy sauce, originating in Indonesia, which has a darker color, a viscous syrupy consistency and a molasses-like flavor due to the generous addition of palm sugar. Kecap manis is widely used with satay. It is similar to, though finer in flavor than, Chinese sweet bean sauce.

Here is a very simple recipe to make your own kecap manis, with the most important ingredients found at Trader Joe’s: palm-coconut sugar and soy sauce.

1. 1. 1 cup soy sauce from Trader Joe’s
   2. 1 1/2 cup organic coconut-palm sugar from Trader Joe’s
   3. OPTIONAL:
      1. 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
      2. 2 inch piece ginger, peeled
      3. 2 whole star anise
      4. 2 whole cloves
      5. kaffir lime leaves
   4. Put all ingredients in a saucepan
   5. Bring to a boil
   6. Reduce heat to medium
   7. Simmer uncovered and stir frequently until sugar is dissolved and sauce begins to thicken – 10-15 min.
   8. Turn off the heat, cover and let cool with the ingredients (flavors will continue to be released)

   9. Discard the pieces, pour sauce into an airtight jar and store in fridge.

TIP: Replace the regular soy sauce with ‘gluten free’ soy sauce.