Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I'm making a new recipe that calls for sweet soy sauce (kecap manis). I accidently picked up sweet soy glaze. Anybody know if these can are the same thing? Can they be used interchangeably? I hate to drive all the way back to the Chinese market.

fitzie

They are definitely not the same - the glaze is probably mostly sugar, though I am just guessing. I'll Ask a friend what he substituted for it, since he couldn't find it where he lived.

Back quickly! He says he got a recipe for it from the "Food Substitutions Bible", but tweaked it a little, since it was too liquid, and kecap manis is semi-thick, like hoisin, or even thicker. So he took 3/8c soy sauce, 1/2 tsp minced garlic, 1/2 of a whole star anise, 1/4 c dark brown sugar, 3 tb molasses (light or dark - blackstrap would be too strong here) in a small saucepan, and heat over low heat until all the sugar is dissolved, and the anise has permeated the syrup. Remove the star anise, then stir in 6 tb smooth bean sauce - his trick for thickening it, and making it more like the original. He says he may have liked it better, but has not tried them next to each other!

Thanks, Dave. I thought you would know. Looks like I'm going back to the city tomorrow.

fitzie

Fitzie,

It also depends on quantities, of course. If you recipe only requires 2 tsp of Kecap Manis, you can probably substitute the soy glaze. If it's 3 Tbs, probably not.

Thanks Fuzzy. It calls for 3Tbsp so I'm either going back to the Chinese market or use less and go by taste. We'll see

fitzie

I've used this recipe before http://www.fussfreecooking.com/meatless-recipes/make-your-own-kecap-manis-indonesian-sweet-soy-sauce/ which just has you reduce soy sauce and brown sugar into the right consistency. It's actually pretty close to the real thing that I can buy at my Asian grocer when I'm not too lazy to drive to that part of town.