Bali: A Culinary Glimpse into Traditional Life

Welcome back to the Chickpea and Carrot Newsletter! Thank you so much to everyone who has joined in to read about our travels. We appreciate you.

In our last newsletter, we had just done some heavy rest & relaxation in a lovely mountainous resort. During our drive up the mountains, our amazing friend and driver Adis had suggested that we do a cooking class with his family when he learned that Dang-Huy was an aspiring cook. It was a spur of the moment kind of a thing, just an idea that popped up in conversation - his family had never invited people in for a cooking class before. So of course we said yes, not really knowing what was in store for us.

Seeking Permission

Adis picked us up in the early afternoon and drove us through bumpy dirt paths to his relative's family home. It was tucked away in the mountainous jungle, such that the lines between the house and jungle were blurred. We were welcomed by Adis's cousin (Nyoman Robi), uncle (Mangku Jaya), aunt (Nyoman Sutiari), and Adis's wife (Ketut Desak) all dressed in traditional clothing.

Left to right: Sol, Dang-Huy, Robi, Mr. Jaya, Mrs. Sutiari, Mrs. Desak, Adis.

Before we started any activities, the family had to pray to their ancestors to announce our arrival and ask for their permission and blessing. The Balinese Hindus have multiple altars at the entrances and within their home enshrining their ancestors, and the family needed to pray and give an offering at every shrine.  

Once the rituals were complete and we had made our introductions, we spent some time chit-chatting with Adis and Robi. Suddenly, there was a commotion across the courtyard space. Mrs. Desak had fallen to the ground with a cry! Alarmed, we watched with worry as Mrs. and Mr. Jaya picked her up. It turns out that she had forgotten to pray and give an offering at one of the home's many altars! Though Adis told us not to worry, we felt awful that she was so distressed, and unsure of what to do. Being a man of action, Baba-nim stepped away to approach Mr. Jaya. After exchanging a few words, they helped him don some traditional clothing and guided him over to one of the alters. We watched silently as Baba-nim gave an offering and whispered a prayer. Later, he explained to us that he had gone to the ancestors to seek their blessing for our presence. The family seemed to appreciate the gesture, though it was unclear to us if this directly remedied the situation. Surrounded by her family, Mrs. Desak appeared to be feeling a little better as time passed.

The experience was a somber reminder of how deeply religious the Balinese are. In our family, we do not have to ask our ancestors for permission or give offerings before welcoming someone into our space. Therefore, we cannot fully understand the context or importance of their ceremonies. However, we did understand that the mistake of forgetting to pray at an altar was devastating to Mrs. Desak. Looking back now, we see how important this Hindu ritual was, how privileged we were to be invited to their home, and how important it is to respect other's cultural practices.

Sol: Having exposure to various religions reminds me of how beautiful humans are, and actually encourages me to connect more with my own religious and spiritual journey. It's something I didn't expect to experience while traveling but has been a good surprise.

A Tour of the Farm

Now that we had complete permission and the ancestors' blessing, we were ready to start learning more about Balinese cuisine. Before the cooking started, Robi gave us a tour of the farm where all the produce was grown. While some parts of the farm had structured rows of tomatoes, others were built right into the tropical forest. We stepped over vines and slipped on dirt paths where cassava, jackfruit, cloves, and laurel grew freely. It was wonderful to see so many foods growing in their natural environment! 

Sol: While it was so cool to see all these plants and their produce growing in their natural habitat, it made me a little sad that this was my first time gazing upon them in this state. It made me reflect on how disconnected from nature and the world around us we get when living in the “hustle and bustle” of the modern western world. After our mountainous stay in Bali, I started a note on my phone of things from traveling I want to bring back to my future home. At the top of the list is a garden. 

Dang: As opposed to the massive monocultural fields of apple trees like in America, some research has shown that diverse farming like this leads to a healthier local ecosystems. However, American mass-farming has been a huge factor in developing its economic strength. It's interesting to think about the tradeoffs between two different systems.

Jackfruit, one of my favorite fruits! ~S

Cloves, native to Bali and used in the culinary and healing world, growing near the house. You can see their green bulbs growing in their iconic shape! 

Indonesian fruit whose name we cannot remember. It was tangy like passionfruit, and you eat the seeds. After eating it, I realized I was lightly allergic :( ~D

After the tour, we sat down for some refreshments, Indonesian style!

The best sweet ginger tea we've ever had!

The tea was served in a beautiful porcelain set with small triangular bites of sweet sticky rice. The sticky rice was steamed in banana leaf, giving it a lovely fragrance and green color. There was also a larger triangle of black rice mixed with white rice, giving it a purple appearance. Both were accompanied with a serve-yourself bowl of freshly shaven coconut meat and liquid palm sugar to use as a dip. Our hands got super sticky from the palm sugar, but it was very worth it. Finally, there were also a couple of cassava-coconut cakes that were sweetened with palm sugar. They tasted lightly sweet and dense like a granola bar.

Cooking Time

We started off our class by prepping the ingredients under Robi’s guidance, using a low, covered table outside as our countertop. All of the produce, fish, and meat had been grown locally.

The table was at about mid-thigh height, meaning a lot of leaning over when preparing ingredients! In the picture is some of the many ingredients and tools used in the cooking class. Starting from the top left: Banana leaves, tapioca flour, a traditional knife in the top right corner, a pot covered with a banana leaf and plate that contained raw chicken, bok choy, a coconut, a plastic bag of solid palm sugar, garlic and many shallots, tomatoes, chili peppers/capsicum, and a soft, circular, wooden cutting board.

Robi assigned us each a task of what to prep. Then, once the ingredients were ready to be cooked, we brought them to the kitchen. The kitchen was a small structure with a wood-fired stove and gas burner where Mrs. Desak and Mrs. Sutiari were frying and boiling our delicious concoctions. 

Robi told us that the menu for dinner included rice, bergedel kentang (potato cakes), beregel jagung (corn fritters), urap campur (veggies cooked in coconut milk), timbungan ayam (chicken soup), pepes ikan laut (parcels of ground fish and tomato steamed in banana leaf), and betutu ayam (chicken marinated in spices and fried shallots). We finished the meal with some sweet dadar gulung and pulung pulung (fried cassava balls stuffed with palm sugar).

Whew! So many dishes. It was a good thing we had two families working together to make all the food.

Sambal, the basis of Indonesian cooking

Since this was a Balinese cooking class, we had lots of sambal to prep. We were given a cobek and ulekan (wide base mortar and pestle) where we ground beautiful pearl shallots, red capsicum peppers, and garlic into a paste. It was quite a workout! “Is it good like this?” We would ask as our arms ached. A quick glance was all Robi needed to see that it needed more time to become a smoother paste. 

Dang-Huy: I love mortar and pestles. It's so simple - just two shaped rocks - and you see it used across the world to make beautiful things like guacamole, sambal, curry paste, etc. By crushing ingredients like capsicum and spices, you get to extract more intense flavours than you would by leaving them whole or cutting with a knife. I also like them for a more primal reason, a là “Man see Rock, Man Collect Rock, Man Happy.”

Sambal was an integral part of nearly every dish we made, and Indonesian cooking in general. It's a ground paste made of capsicum and a variety of other ingredients like spices and aromatics; the exact composition varies per region and culture. We added it to the batter of the corn fritters and fried potato cakes, and seasoned the chicken and fish with it. It can also be used as a standalone condiment to add a zingy kick. Generally, we found two types of condiment sambal throughout Indonesia: one with ground red capsicum and one with sliced orange capsicum. The orange capsicum sambal was insanely spicy, and the ground red one was… also very spicy, but had a little more hint of sweetness. Sambal originated in Indonesia but has spread to Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and more countries!

Mincing Meat and using Banana Leaves to Steam Fish

While Sol and Baba-nim worked on the sambal, Dang-Huy turned his attention to make a ground chicken by using two cleaver knives to repeatedly mince the meat. Most westerners are accustomed to buying ground meat already ground, so it was cool to see! 

Dang-Huy: I asked where they got the chicken from, and they told me it was a chicken just killed and butchered in the morning by a nearby farmer. The chickens in Bali were generally free to roam and eat wherever and whatever they pleased, which typically results in better flavour and texture. I've read some research on how decreased stress (especially at time of of slaughter) improves meat texture, quality, and longevity. I would assume that factors like regular exercise, free-roaming, and a varied diet helps with that.

After finishing grinding the meat, Dang-Huy cut bok choy and various veggies into strips. In the kitchen, the ground chicken and bok choy were used to make soup, and the other veggies for a light stir fry with coconut milk and quail egg. Then, he marinated chicken thigh in sambal and turmeric, and sliced salmon into strips. The salmon was packaged together with sliced tomato in a banana leaf, then stapled together by weaving a dried bamboo string through the ends.

The banana leaf wrapping technique.

Preparing Vegan Corn and Potato Fritters

While Dang-Huy was hard at work preparing the meat, Sol worked on the vegetarian fritters. The potatoes were chopped, fried, and then mashed! It took a lot of self control not to snack on the fluffy potatoes bits. Sambal was added into the mash, which was then rolled up, and taken off to be fried. The corn fritters were made in a similar manner but with fresh corn kernels instead. 

Sol assembles the corn fritters into small spheres as Dang-Huy works on making more sambal.

Once rolled into balls, the ladies in the kitchen battered the fritters in flour and egg, then fried them in palm oil.

Preparing the Sweets

Sol and Baba-nim moved to work on the desserts by grating coconut and cassava on a huge iron grater. Just like making the sambal, it was hard work.

Grating the fresh coconut! I went extra slow out of fear of grating my fingers (yes, that's happened to me before), plus my arm was already sore from the sambal prep. ~S

The coconut and cassava were combined with palm sugar into little balls, and then fried for dessert! Finally, we prepared the dadar gulung. Green pandan water was added to a watery mixture of tapioca and wheat flour, then cooked on a pan by Adis's wife. She brought out the cooked crepes and we tag team'd in, rolling the chewy crepes around a shaved coconut and palm sugar mixture!

Mama-nim, master roller, doing her thing.

Let's Eat! 

The sun had completely set even though we had started cooking in the early afternoon. All the food was finished and we were all hungry and excited to indulge in our Indonesian feast! The head of household gave thanks for the food and a welcome to us, which Dang-Huy returned by expressing his own gratitude.

Apparently, Balinese women wait until after men have eaten to take their turn eating, but we insisted everyone should eat at the same time. 

Dang-Huy: It was a difficult cultural difference as Vietnamese people love eating together - it's time to bond. Perhaps we should have just observed their tradition and not insisted to eat together? The ladies went into a separate room to eat.

From left to right like a book: steamed banana leaf fish with tomato, fried shallots, dadar gulung and cassava coconut balls, corn fritters and potato fritters, chicken soup, marinated chicken stew, coconut milk veggies with hard-boiled quail eggs, rice.

Maybe it was because we all worked for so long and hard to make the food, but we really enjoyed the dinner. Here are our notes on how it tasted:

• The steamed fish with tomato was lean and aromatic, though the fish was a bit chewy.

• Corn fritters and potato fritters were a major highlight. What's not to love about spiced fried veggies?

• Chicken soup was light and refreshing.

• Marinated chicken was cooked more than how we cook it at home, but the spices and savouriness paired perfectly with the white rice.

• Coconut milk veggies with the boiled eggs were a light and welcome dish to balance out the fried veggies and meat.

• Everything was seasoned very lightly with salt, which allowed the natural subtle flavors of the vegetables and meat to shine.

• Dadar gulung was deliciously sweet and chewy as always. Definitely one of Sol's favorites, and these were the best ones we'd had!

• Cassava coconut balls were delicious. There was a strong coconut flavour and they were quite dense.

Happy Birthday, Dang-Huy!

Having eaten our fill, we chatted with Mama-nim and Baba-nim at the table over the delicious flavors of the meal. Off in the distance, our kind hosts huddled over a plate with a lighter in hand. As they walked over, a chorus of “Happy Birthday” filled the air. The plate contained a beautiful, one-of-a-kind coconut-cassava cake shaped like a heart made just for Dang-Huy. Baba-nim had spoken with Adis earlier to plan the special close to the night.

Dang-Huy: I was so surprised, happy, and touched! Growing up, I skipped many birthday celebrations because I disliked drawing attention to myself. Thanks to Sol’ fervent love of birthdays and holidays, nowadays I try to resist that feeling and be stronger in my sense of self. However, it's still extra nice to have someone else plan it all out for me :) It was the perfect birthday, surrounded with my family, cooking, eating, and learning about Indonesia.

Sol: Baba-nim had told me of the plans a few minutes before it happened and I was sooo excited for Dang-Huy. The photo above is one of my favorites because you can see the warmth and love this moment held. 

Reflection 

We are so grateful that we were welcomed so kindly by Adis and his family, and think of this day as one of the highlights of our trip. It's moments like these that make us feel so alive and feed our hunger to travel more. We learned so much about how to prepare delicious Balinese dishes, how foods are grown, and how local customs and beliefs are integrated into daily life. Connecting with Adis and his family over food warmed our hearts and we hope that we are blessed with more days like these in our travels.

With full bellies and a birthday boy in tow,

Dang-Huy and Sol