INGREDIENTS
- 1 whole chicken, chopped
- bumbu bali
- 1 carrot, peeled and cubed
- 1 potato, peeled and cubed
curry spice:
- 1 tspn salt
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 lime
- 2 blades of lemongrass
- 3 salam leaves (bay leaves)
- 1 cup coconut milk
DIRECTIONS
Cut chicken into pieces. Add curry spice mix to bumbu bali. Place chicken, oil, salt, and bumbu bali with spice mix in a large pot (the dish should consist of 25% bumbu bali). Coat the chicken with the sauce. Add enough water to the pot to cover the chicken. Cover the pot and cook the chicken for approximately 30 minutes. Beat and knot the lemon grass and add it to the stew. Add chopped carrots and potato to stew. Add salam leaves and coconut milk to the pot. Continue cooking until the chicken is cooked (another 20 minutes). The curry is done when the sauce is thick and sticky.
This is a basic tempe recipe that can be made with peanuts and small dried fish for variation. Like tofu, tempe has very little taste by itself, but when cooked, it absorbs the flavours of the other ingredients.
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 lb tempe (or one block)
- 1 cup peanuts (optional)
- 2 cups small dried fish (optional)
- 2 tbsp dark brown sugar/palm sugar
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 red chili peppers
- 1/2 tspn salt
- 1/2 tspn pepper
- 1 spring onion, chopped
- 1 leek, chopped
- coconut oil
DIRECTIONS
Cut raw tempe into strips. Fry tempe in coconut oil until it just starts to turn brown, set aside. Fry peanuts, set aside. Fry fish, set aside. Fry chopped garlic, leek and chilies. Add tempe, peanuts and fish. Mix in sugar. Stir completely and remove from heat. Mix in salt and pepper.
This, by far, is my favourite Balinese dish. When cooked right, the tempe is a perfect crunchy chew. It’s like eating healthy, Asian, high-protein, low fat, spicy crisps. Mmmmmm….mouth. wateringly. yummy.
As promised, here it is! Hot sauce prawn, Balinese style. When you’ve got bumbu bali, the possibilities are endless.
INGREDIENTS
- 5-7 large prawns
- 1 1/2 tbsp bumbu bali
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 Balinese chilis
- 1 green pepper, sliced
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 2 tbsp coconut/palm oil
- salt & pepper
- 1 whole lime to marinade
DIRECTIONS
- Marinate shrimp in salt, pepper and lime and cool in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Fry cooled shrimp mix in 2tbsp of oil. You will know the prawns are ready when they turn red in colour.
- Add chilis, green pepper and onions.
- Add 1/2 cup of coconut milk.
- Add 1 1/2 tbsp of bumbu bali, palm sugar and kaffir lime leaf.
- Add the rest of the coconut milk (1/2 cup), salt and pepper.
- Simmer until the sauce is thick.
- Serve.
While in Bali for a few weeks in January this year, I took a great cooking class offered by one of the local restaurants in Ubud. Early that morning, we went to the market to purchase ingredients for the dishes we were going to make. It was one of the most fruitful days I spent while traveling on my own. It’s so different learning about local dishes from a local chef.
Balinese cooking is very different from general Indonesian cooking. Balinese food tends to be either very spicy or very sweet. Many Balinese have one spice mixture called base gede or bumbu bali that they prepare in a large quantity and use in their everyday cooking. We spent half of the morning making bumbu bali and used it for every dish we made throughout the rest of the day. It’s like all-spice, Balinese style. I’m sharing it below (JS, this one is especially for you, in return for the chili fish recipe that you cooked up after our trip through China):
INGREDIENTS
- 25 shallots or onions, peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 7 large red chillies, seeded and chopped
- 5 cm galangal root (substitute: ginger), peeled and chopped
- 10 cm fresh tumeric, peeled and chopped OR 2 tbsp powdered tumeric
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 6 kemiri/candlenuts (substitute: ground almonds), chopped
- 2 tspn dried shrimp paste
- 1/2 tspn black peppercorns
- 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg (or powder)
- 3 cloves
- 4 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil
- 1 pinch cumin
- 1/2 tspn sesame seed
DIRECTIONS
Using a blender, mix all of the above ingredients except the oil. Add a half portion of water into the blender to create spice mix. Heat the oil in a wok or heavy pan, add the blended spice mix and cook over a high heat, stirring frequently for 5 minutes until the mix turns golden. Cool before using. Can be frozen.
Use this mix and add to meat or vegetables. For meat, 25% of the dish should consist of the mix. For vegetables, add a bit at a time to suit your taste.
Tomorrow, I’ll post the recipe for Sambal Udang (hot sauce prawn), which uses bumbu bali as the main spicing ingredient. =)
Carrot and apple salad
- 2 carrots
- 1 apple
- salt
- good quality balsamic vinegar
Shred carrots (must be shredded, not chopped). Cube apple. Mix in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and balsamic. Serve chilled.
Spinach tortilla
- 5 eggs
- 2 bunches of boiled spinach (or ‘speanuts’ according to my Mom’s shopping list)
- 1 large onion
- 2 cloves chopped garlic
- a medium sized pan to fry it all in
Chop onion and fry.
Rinse spinach and boil in a large pot. Drain.
Chop garlic and scramble with eggs. Remove from pan.
Add veggies to pan. Then add eggs. Cook for 4 minutes and flip.
OR get a boy who will do it all for you. =)
Ice cream with lychees
- vanilla ice cream
- canned lychees in syrup
Scoop ice cream in bowls. Top with lychees.
Stream Vancouver Olympics on the computer, end with chamomile tea by the fire. =) Perfect.
