Sambal kicap is one of those recipes that doesn’t actually need a recipe – a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and you have an amazing Asian condiment!

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

What is Sambal Kicap?

Let’s break it down shall we? The name of the recipe is in Malay. Remember, not Malaysian. The first is the language, the second is the nationality, or colour of your passport.

• Sambal = can be a condiment/relish or it can be a side dish, and is more often than not, spicy
• Kicap = soy sauce
• Kicap tomato = tomato ketchup (you always get a bonus with me!)
• Manis = sweet (as in sweet soy sauce)
• Masin = salty (the regular, generic light soy sauce)

So sambal kicap – spicy soy sauce (not literally, but that’s really what we mean.

Sambal Kicap Recipe

It’s just way too easy.

About twice a week, I have sardines or mackerel straight out of the can, no heating up, nothing, to preserve all that essential fatty acid.

Sometimes I have it with bread, but more often than not, I have it with rice and salad or our simple Asian vegetable soup. So I need something to jazz up the meal, something spicy. And since what I have in the fridge isn’t always what I fancy, out comes the kicap!

All I do is:

1. Roughly chop up, pound or pulse the aromatics. Here, I’m using chillies, a small garlic and a small shallot. Place them in a small bowl.
2. Pour over some sweet soy sauce and dark soy sauce.
3. Squeeze over some lime juice, stir and I’m in heaven!

Ingredients

You don’t need a lot of things for this, just soy sauce, aromatics (shallots, garlic, etc) and lime juice. I don’t even bother with salt because, hello, it’s soy sauce – sodium in a bottle! Let’s take a quick look at the ingredients.

What Soy Sauce?

We want to use sweet soy sauce and dark soy sauce for the best sambal kicap ever!

Sweet soy sauce = kicap manis in Malay, ketjap manis in Indonesian.

But, and I can’t stress this enough, it all depends on your kicap manis. If it’s fairly watery and resembles a regular dark soy sauce and isn’t overly sweet, then you don’t need to use 2 different kinds of soy sauces. Just stick with kicap manis.

However, if your sweet soy sauce is super thick and doesn’t flow easily, then adding dark soy sauce to the mix will produce a sambal kicap that’s perfect in flavour and consistency.

So bottom line, for the best kicap manis, we want to use a combination of sweet soy sauce and dark soy sauce.

Aromatics

So we have 3 different kinds of aromatics: chillies (obviously), shallots and a small amount of garlic.

Chillies

The best sambal kicap always uses a combination of green and red chillies for a fresh, fruity flavour. The type and number of chillies you use will decide how hot your spicy soy sauce is.

I tend to use any bird’s eye type chillies. But have been known to use habaneros, and Peruvian chillies like aji amarillo and aji limo, because I grow them every summer. If you’re interested in my Chilli Collection and various spicy recipes, you’ll find them on LinsFood, on the Chilli Page.

But you can use any chillies you like, and whatever heat level. If you are part of the Chilli Head LinsFood family, then I can imagine, you probably like it hot!

But if you’re not and you fancy my all thing HOT newsletters, just let me know with the form below:

Shallots

I use shallots and spring onions (scallions) interchangeably when making sambal kicap. It just depends on my mood. I’m a huge fam of anything onion, in any shape or form.

But if you’re not, like half my family in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, then skip the onions altogether. Your sambal kicap will still be awesome, as we’ve got lime juice in the mix too. Lime juice makes everything better, no?

Garlic

We use the smallest amount of garlic in this recipe. This is because all the aromatics remain raw, and raw garlic is a powerful old thing. Don’t fancy raw garlic? Again, just skip it.

Lime Juice

Lime juice lightens and adds a citrusy zing, as well as a touch of sweet to our sambal kicap. But there’s a balance to be had here, and it’s all about proportion.

Start small, as in the recipe, and you can always add more to your taste.

Traditionally, we’d use calamansi limes, but outside of South East Asia, this might not be so easy. So use any limes you can get your hands on but not kaffir limes. We don’t consume the juice of kaffir limes.

At the point of writing, my calamansi lime plants are in their flowering stage, so I’m using a regular Persian lime.

• calamondin limes = calamansi limes = limau kasturi
• limau = lemons and limes

What about Salt and Sugar?

I don’t bother with either because kicap manis is sweet and soy sauce, whatever its inclination, is salty enough. But if you really, really, REALLY want to add salt and sugar, add a pinch at a time, stir and taste it.

Thick Sambal Kicap

I hear you.

You’re thinking you want a really thick sambal kicap that you can serve in little “lumps” on your noodles. If that’s what you fancy, then get the thickest sweet soy sauce you can find, and skip the dark soy sauce. But follow the rest of the recipe below.

How to Serve Sambal Kicap

Sambal kicap is a straight up dip or condiment.

It makes a great dip for both sweet and savoury foods, like begedil, the local potato patties. But one of the best ways to enjoy sambal kicap is also as a dip for goreng pisang or pisang goreng, fried banana fritters. Seriously, don’t knock it until you try it.

As a condiment, kicap manis can be eaten with noodles as well as rice. Noodles are always eaten with a host of toppings, one of them being something spicy. So our spicy soy sauce, especially when it’s on the thick side, makes the perfect topping.

Begedil Recipe (aka Perkedel, Fried Potato Patty)

Get your Begedil recipe here! Aka perkedel in Indonesia, these fried potato patties are a popular side dish in Singapore and Malaysia.

Check out this recipe!

Mee Rebus Recipe

Mee Rebus is a delicious bowl of egg noodles in a curry sauce topped with eggs, chillies, crispy onions, tofu and anything else your heart desires!

Check out this recipe!

How long will it Keep?

Sambal kicap will happily keep for a few hours in the fridge. The longer you keep it, the darker the aromatics will get, taking on the colour of your soy sauce. They’ll also soften.

To me, it’s at its best after 20 minutes or so, when the soy sauce has taken on the flavour and heat of the chillies et al. But at this point, the aromatics still have a bite to them.

Variations

You can change up your sambal kicap a little. The chillies are a must because it wants to be spicy. But you can use red chilli flakes instead of fresh chillies, if you like. Chilli powder (cayenne powder) won’t be as good.

Besides that, I sometimes also add some chopped up coriander leaves (cilantro), a chopped up tomato and even a slice or two of cucumber, again, chopped up fairly small.

The idea is that whatever you add to your sambal kicap will be small enough to be scooped up and also to flavour the soy sauce quickly.

FAQs

• What is Kicap made of?
  Kicap is soy sauce, right, as we talked about above. You have light, dark and sweet. And the Japanese tamari which sits somewhere between light and dark.
  
  Soy sauce is essentially made of fermented soybeans (soya beans) with added ingredients. This can be salt, sugar, molasses, wheat and vinegar. A good quality soy sauce shouldn’t contain more than 3-5 ingredients.
• What is Kicap in English?
  Kicap is soy sauce, of whatever variety. But we also say kicap tomato for tomato ketchup.
• Is ketjap the same as kicap?
  Yes, ketjap is the Indonesian spelling, while kicap is in Malay.
• What can I use instead of kicap manis?
  The best substitute for kicap manis is dark soy sauce and a little sugar. That can be white or palm sugar (or brown), but not too much, just a small amount.
  
  If you don’t have dark soy sauce, then regular soy sauce will have to do.

And that’s it, shall we get our aprons on?

If you enjoy the recipe, drop me a comment and let me know. And if you are feeling like a star, don’t forget that 5-star rating! 😉Thank you!

If you make this recipe, post it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @azlinbloor and hashtag it #linsfood.

Lin xx