Learn to make Ketjap Manis, the Indonesian sweet soy sauce. Its flavor is more complex than just soy sauce with sugar, as it has flavorful aromatics added.
Sometimes for a quick snack, I’ll have some steamed rice with ketjap manis, and some sambal! Delicious!
Ketjap Manis: Indonesian Sweet Soy Sauce
Learn to make Ketjap Manis, the Indonesian sweet soy sauce. Its flavor is more complex than just soy sauce with sugar, as it has flavorful aromatics added.
Ingredients
Method
Preparing the Ingredients
- Peel and smash your ginger.
- Peel and smash your garlic.
- Peel and smash your galangal
- Zest your lemon (for me, one lemon yielded 2tsp of lemon zest)
- Shave your palm sugar (if you have it. If you're using brown sugar, you can skip this step)
Making Ketjap Manis
- Add the soy sauce and sugar to a saucepan, and warm it over medium-low heat, until the sugar is fully dissolved. Make sure you keep stirring the entire time.
- Add the galangal, ginger, garlic, lemon zest, and star anise. Increase the heat slightly, and when it comes to a boil, move it over to the smallest burner over the smallest flame. Make sure you don't burn the sugar, as it will make the sauce bitter.
- Let it simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens to the consistency of maple syrup.You can test this by running your finger over the back of the spoon you're using to stir, and if the line you draw doesn't fill in right away, you have reached the right consistency.Note: pay attention, it's easy to burn, which will turn the sauce bitter.
- let it cool, and store in a glass bottle in the fridge.
