Ketjap manis

[bellinghman]

The other day, I was looking round the shelves of the local Tesco in the odd hope that they had some sweet soy sauce suitable for happydisciple's satay sauce recipe. But, despite my search, I didn't find it.

Yesterday, I was idly perusing the shelves looking for the paella rice when I noticed a small bottle filled with dark liquid.

Closer examination showed that it was indeed the Indonesian sweet soy that I'd previously been looking for. It is, however, quite possible that I didn't see it on the previous occasion because it's not so labelled: the large lettering on the front says 'Ketjap Manis'. No wonder my mental filter didn't see it: it didn't see the words 'soy sauce' on it.

Comments

[feorag.livejournal.com]

But "ketjap manis" means "sweet sauce". Tsk. Young people today, etc., etc...

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Yes. Specifically, in this case, a sweet soy sauce.

I think the problem was that happydisciple is Dutch and, as such, terribly helpful. And he naturally translated it into English, knowing my command of Dutch is so minimal that I occasionally suspect the entire language may be a hoax <ahem, sorry>.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

(OK, so I don't know Indonesian either. Or whatever language 'ketjap' and 'manis' actually originated.)

[feorag.livejournal.com]

The fault with this particular cunning plan is, if cookbooks are our guide, the English for "ketjap manis" is, in fact, "ketjap manis". It was originally Indonesisan, though it's been filtered through Dutch for the transliteration - I suspect the Dutch had something to do with Indonesian being written in Latin these days, though there have been spelling reforms since which seem to make the transliteration conform more closely to English. The modern Indonesian spelling is "kecap manis".

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Indeed - and there is even the catsup/ketchup spelling split for the kecap/ketjap. But what else should we expect for foreign food names? It's not as though certain basic British foodstuffs don't have seemingly dozens of different names. How many names are there for a bread roll?

Oh, and for reference, the bottle in question is as here.

[feorag.livejournal.com]

I tend to go for Conimex myself. Their Cassava kroepoek (they stick rigidly to Dutch orthography) are glorious. There are a few obscure brands to be found in "Chinese" supermarkets in Amsterdam, too.

[mrs-warwick.livejournal.com]

Did you find the paella rice? My local tesco does easy cook long grain or basmati rice. If I'm very lucky I'll find pudding rice, but it doesn't seem to be carried as part of the standard range.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. They have a part of an aisle devoted to simply packaged own-brand ingredients - so stuff like vanilla pods, dried mushrooms, couscous, bottled garlic cloves and so on. In that area they have both paella and risotto rice, whereas the basmati and long grain rices are elsewhere, with the dried pastas and such.

What I cooked was a rice mess (paella/risotto/biriyani/jambalaya/whatever) comprising sliced smoked Rutland sausage, king prawns and fresh quartered mushrooms, with onion, garlic, plenty of chicken stock and a good slosh of the ketjap.

Delicious.

(We're a small town, maybe 15,000 people, but we like our food.)

[mrs-warwick.livejournal.com]

I usually skip that aisle in our store, as it also has the sweets and chocolates - when shopping with a 2 year old, it makes life quieter if these things are avoided! I may have to risk it next time I'm there.

Your rice mess sounds like something I would do, without the spicy stuff because the girls don't like it.