Thai sweet soy sauce

November 19, 2009 • Hello. I am currently out of the country and unable to respond to comments and e-mails. Rest assured, however, that future posts have been scheduled so new recipes will go live almost everyday during my absence. I'll be back soon with lots of stories and photos. Ciao for now! ~ Connie

Before I post the masterpiece that my husband whipped up a couple of nights ago, let me first write something about the seasoning that figures prominently in the preparation of that dish — sweet soy sauce. Thai sweet soy sauce, to be exact.

sweet-soy-sauce

For the longest time, I have been using the kecap manis, the Indonesian sweet soy sauce. But I haven’t been able to find kecap manis in any supermarket for a long time. It just seems to have disappeared. In fact, there aren’t many Indonesian brands in the supermarket these days. What I see a lot of (aside from Chinese and Taiwanese food products, that is) are Japanese, Korean and Thai brands. Tired of not being able too cook dishes that require sweet soy sauce, I finally decided to try Thai sweet soy sauce.

What’s the big deal about sweet soy sauce? Why not just add sugar to regular soy sauce? Sweet soy sauce is a thin paste rather than a liquid. And it isn’t just sugar that’s added. Kecap manis, for instance, is flavored with star anise. And it isn’t sweetened with just any sugar — kecap manis is sweetened with palm sugar (I’ll post a photo of palm sugar next time — it’s after midnight here and too dark to do photography in the kitchen).

How is Thai sweet soy sauce different from kecap manis? Both are pastes but Thai sweet soy sauce is made from molasses. No spice is listed — it’s just soy sauce and sweetener but the label clearly says it is fat free.

Which is better? They’re not really the same but both go well in dishes that require sweet soy sauce.

September 4, 2009  Print This Post   
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Comments

7 Responses to “Thai sweet soy sauce”
  1. niceyfemme says:
    September 5, 2009 at 11:44 am

    ms connie where’d you find this? which supermarket? shopwise or rustan’s?

    Reply
  2. paw says:
    September 14, 2009 at 11:20 am

    hi connie,ill try this one…question lang,alam ko expert ka d2,pano naman gawin yung chili paste like sa chowking or san ako makakabile non…tnx again and more power….

    Reply
  3. JOEY TOSINO says:
    November 10, 2009 at 7:05 am

    kecap manis
    the oozy version is what i use on my siopao!
    sarap sarap sarap!

    Reply

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