Ayam kecap


Ayam kecap or ayam masak kicap is an Indonesian and Malaysian chicken dish poached or simmered in sweet soy sauce commonly found in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, ayam kecap is pieces of chicken simmered in kecap manis, spiced with shallot or onion, garlic, ginger, pepper, leek and tomato. Other version might add richer spices, including nutmeg and cloves. In Indonesia, the term ayam kecap is often interchangeable with ayam goreng kecap and semur ayam, Indonesian sweet soy stew which uses chicken instead of beef. Since all of them are actually similar – if not almost identical, recipes of chicken cooked in sweet soy sauce. However, semur ayam often add richer spices, which includes clove, cinnamon and star anise. On the other hand, ayam goreng kecap has thicker sweet soy sauce and often added with slices of fresh lime or splash of lime juices. The main difference probably is its water content, despite quite moist, both ayam kecap and ayam goreng kecap are usually dryer and has thicker soy sauce compared to semur ayam which is more watery.
In Indonesian, fried chicken in sweet soy sauce is a typical chicken dish commonly served across Indonesia. However, it is more precisely of Javanese-Chinese origin. The recipe follows the production of Indonesian kecap manis. Historically, soy sauce production is linked to Chinese influence in the archipelago. However, Indonesian Javanese version of soy sauce has its own twist, which is a generous addition of thick liquid palm sugar with consistency of molasses. The ayam kecap pedas is a hot and spicier version which add generous amount of chili pepper.
In Indonesia, ayam kecap commonly is poached chicken cut in pieces, which includes its bones. However, there is a variant called ayam panggang kecap which uses identical sweet soy sauce and spices, but the chicken is boneless fillet and being grilled instead of being fried.

Malaysia

The Malay ayam masak kicap is different from the Chinese version of soy sauce chicken as the chicken meat is cut into pieces and mixed with its own spices.