Baked Chicken With Soy Sauce And Honey (Ayam Panggang Kecap)

Soy sauce, a native to Chinese, is one of the most of popular condiments in East and Southeast Asia. It made of fermented soy beans. It is usually used in cooking as flavoring agent. Most of soy sauce is salty but Indonesian soy sauces include thick sweet soy sauce or known as kecap manis. This sweet condiment is usually used in dishes such as stir-fries, stew, bbq, etc.

Indonesian bbq dishes such as sate (satay), ayam bakar (grilled chicken), ikan bakar (grilled fish), ayam panggang (baked chicken), are typically used kecap manis as marinade and bbq sauce.

Here is how to use sweet soy sauce as marinade and bbq sauce. This ayam bakar kecap (baked chicken with soy sauce and honey) is just delicious. The chicken is very tender and glazed with sweet thick sauce. If you love hot spicy dishes, add a couple teaspoon of chili paste to the marinade ingredients.

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

3 lbs chicken pieces (thigh, drumstick, breast)

Sauce:

3 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)

4 tbsp tomato ketchup

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp butter, melted

Marinade:

8 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

1 tbsp minced ginger

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp sweet soy sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tbsp tomato ketchup

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

3 daun salam (Indonesian bay leaves)

• In a mixing bowl, mix the chicken pieces with garlic, onion, ginger, honey, sweet soy sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, black pepper, bay leaves and coriander. Marinade the chicken for about 3 hours.
• Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. In a bowl, mix sweet soy sauce, ketchup, garlic powder, black pepper, honey, brown sugar and butter. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Reserve 1/2 cup of the sauce for basting.
• Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place the chicken and the marinade in a baking pan. Pour the rest of the sauce over the chicken pieces. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 F then lower the heat to 350 F. Cook for about 15 to 30 minutes until the internal temperature of the chicken pieces are 165 F to 170 F. Occasionally turn and baste the chicken with sauce.
• Brown the chicken under the broiler for the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
• Serve with warm steamed rice, raw salad and sambal (chili sauce).