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Jakarta Post

Learning Bali’s true flavors

Balinese food is very complex and even after visiting Bali a few times, I still didn’t know exactly what Balinese cuisine was

Diana O’Gilvie (The Jakarta Post)
Bali
Sun, October 14, 2012

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Learning Bali’s true flavors

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alinese food is very complex and even after visiting Bali a few times, I still didn’t know exactly what Balinese cuisine was.

Real Balinese cooking is typically enjoyed at home, so you won’t find it on hotel menus. There might be lots of places to get babi guling (suckling pig) at lunch time, but for the most part, traditional Balinese meals aren’t offered to the visiting public.

In order to learn about true Balinese cooking, I took a cooking class in Ubud.

There are a number of cooking classes in Ubud. I chose Bumi Bali restaurant for a comprehensive experience and for the book of recipes.

The class met at the restaurant at 9 a.m. and headed over to the Ubud traditional market. I have been to this market before, but in the evening. It is completely different market in the morning, teeming with fresh produce and meat.

During the evening, the market transforms into a souvenir hunter’s delight, filled with art, crafts, fabrics and jewelry.

We walked past big woven baskets brimming with all sorts of flowers. Bright yellow marigolds and white frangipanis were the only two flowers I recognized in the market’s kaleidoscope. Porters whizzed by carrying loads of produce on their heads. Locals came to the market to buy ingredients for the day’s cooking.

Our instructor, Ketut, went from stall to stall pointing out ingredients that are the core to Balinese cooking.

I was fascinated with galangal or kencur, a gnarled looking root, akin to ginger. When I tasted a mere sliver of it, my tongue was immediately anesthetized. The taste is strong and spicy, but without the heat.

Root ingredients like galangal, turmeric and ginger are core to Balinese cooking. Palm sugar also tickled my culinary fancy. Sold in dark brown semi-circles, it can be shaved off and added into the pot. The taste is a mix of caramel and maple syrup.

We tasted raw ginger, limes and turmeric. The turmeric left our teeth and fingers stained bright yellow; bit of a practical joke on Ketut’s part.

The cornerstone of many Balinese dishes is a basic spice paste called base gede or bumbu. Its ingredients are garlic, red chili peppers, Asian shallots (smaller and bigger in flavor than their western counterparts), nutmeg, ginger, turmeric, palm sugar, cumin, shrimp paste and salam leaves.

Oyster and fish sauces can be substituted for the shrimp paste. When using the salam leaves, make sure that it’s dried and a half of a leaf will do.

Powdered alternatives are available, but it is best to use fresh ingredients for ultimate taste. The base gede will stay fresh in the refrigerator for three weeks and last six weeks in the freezer. The Balinese make big batches of this paste and it’s used on chicken, fish and some pork dishes.

Balinese cooking incorporates many influences. Early spice traders and European colonizers all had influence on Balinese cooking. The Chinese introduced the wok, stir frying, tofu, tempeh and bean sprouts. The Dutch colonizers brought peanuts, squash, pumpkin and cacao.

Throughout Bali, every region has a specialty dish. Ubud is known for duck. Many Balinese argue that the best suckling pig is in Gianyar. On the shorelines of Kuta, fish is the specialty. The spices are as varied as the dishes themselves.

Coconut oil is preferred because of its flavor. Ketut says it’s his mom’s job to make coconut oil. Older coconuts are grated then water is added to squeeze out the milk. The milk is then boiled for hours until all that remains is the oil. His mother makes coconut oil every week from about 15 coconuts.

“Back in class, we don our complimentary black and white aprons.”

Ketut explains to us culinary facts about the ingredients. These little details surprised me like nutmeg is a natural hallucinogen; black and white peppers come from the same plant. Sea salt is used in everything, including drinks.

The saffron you see everywhere in the market is “cheap” and is most likely safflower seeds. I must admit I fell for the last one on previous trips to the market. I thought I was getting away with a steal.

The Bumbu Bali class is demonstration-based with plenty of opportunities to volunteer, stir, sauté and squeeze. We
prepared six traditional Balinese meals; base gede, sayur urab (mixed vegetables) tuna sambal matah (sautéed spicy tuna), tempe manis (tempeh in sweet sauce), opor ayam (chicken curry) and Bali sate lilit (pork skewers).

The first dish he made was base gede. Traditionally, all the ingredients are pounded with a mortar and pestle for more flavor.

For today’s class, Ketut used a blender. “Sorry mom,” he grimaced. After the ingredients are blended with a little water, it is transferred into a saucepan with four tablespoons of coconut oil, stirred constantly for five minutes, and then set aside. If storing the paste, use up to 15 tablespoons of oil for preservation.

The cooking class rolled on as we prepared dish after dish. In between the opor ayam and sate lilit, Ketut did a 10-minute dish of sambal prawn sauce, his mother’s recipe. For a sweet treat we enjoyed a black rice pudding dessert.

I truly got to experience Balinese culture through the food instead of having a burger at my hotel. After class, I was buzzing with excitement and planning the meals I would prepare at home. First, I needed the ingredients from the market, not a bad place to shop.

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