Bali Food Blog
[ Index ] [ previous day ] [ next day ]
Day 20: Tuesday, 17th July
Lobong Culinary Experience. This was my second cooking class, as I didn’t enjoy the first one too much as it was not much hands on. This one was much better, more actual prep and cooking, and done in a family compound. It started with a great market tour of a ‘real’ Balinese local market. We witnessed some more babi guling eateries, but street side not fancy restaurant style.
There was lot more to see in the market.
We started the course by preparing the Base Gede which is the base spice mix used in most Balinese cooking. See the previous cooking class post for details. Although this time the cook didn’t use fish paste – and claims not to use it at all (hard to believe).
During our class we cooked the following dishes:
Jukut Gadang Mekuah; a green papaya mince chicken soup with crispy shallots
Ikan Bakar Sambal Matah; pan seared yellow fin tuna, with a raw spicy salsa of shallots, lemongrass, kaffir lime juice, torch ginger (which is the stem of the ginger flower) and chilli. The lime juice marinates and cooks the onion, so it’s not so pungent. This was my favourite dish.
Ayam Bakar Bumbu Bali; Twice cooked (chargrilled and braised) marinated chicken breast in a spicy coconut sauce. The sauce is based on the Base Gede, with chicken stock and coconut milk, with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf.
Sate Tusuk Ayam; marinated chicken pieces with Balinese spices, served with a peanut sauce.
Sayer Pakis; Fern tips (which are amazingly quite nice to eat) and water spinach, mixed with grated coconut and red beans, tossed with a garlic, shallot and chilli dressing.
Nasi Sela; Sweet potato (the white variety) rice. This is a traditional and lengthy way of cooking rice which is best for when cooking nasi goreng, as the grains separate easily.
Sambal Ulek; a tomato and chilli sambal/sauce, which was used to eat with the rice, as an accompaniment.
Other information:
- The lawar salad is traditionally made with pigs blood to make it quite red, as all the grated coconut soaks up the liquid. It is generally not made like this for tourists, only locals!
- The kaffir lime leaf should only be shredded or broken, never chopped as it bruises easily and creates a bitter taste.
- Some confusing information about how palm sugar is made. This chef says it is from reduced coconut water. The last class teacher told me it was made from the stem of the coconut palm flower. After researching I discovered you actually make it using the sap from the stem of the palm. Boiled till it thickens. Another product ‘coconut sugar’ is made from the sap of the cut flower buds…
And here is where they may cook sometimes ...
Ketut our housekeeper gave the kids a jelly. It was white in colour, and tasted of something I can’t pin point; it’s not quite vanilla, or coconut, maybe some other flavour? It had rather a large amount of gelatine, as it was very solid jelly.
Dinner was at a fair trade restaurant called Warung Bale
We ordered some dishes which we all shared.
Mie Goreng
Nasi goreng
and a Thai basil chicken dish with steamed rice. The Thai dish was very rich in basil, and had quite a tomato-ey taste.
We had a banana crepe for dessert too.
The kids loved it too!
One of the staff gave the kids a banana leaf tube tied at both ends. On opening we discovered a sweet tasting pink jelly like substance. It is made with rice flour and sugar for flavour, and then wrapped tightly in a banana leaf to make a little tube. The kids didn’t like it at all!
From our vantage point on the rooftop restaurant, we could see our other food option.
[ Index ] [ previous day ] [ next day ]