flowers. The cooked daily food is still left out unrefrigerated on the kitchen table all day long, and the remains will not be saved and stored overnight in the refrigerator. This is not a leisurely, leftover food culture of recreational eating and extended cold storage. The Balinese do not order takeout food or bring “doggie bag” portions home from restaurants. It goes against the very grain of Balinese food philosophy and practice to cook large meals in large quantities to last for several days of meals and snacks. The Balinese are horrified when you insist that food can be kept until the next day. Nothing is stored or saved or planned as food for tomorrow. No cold New York pizza slice for breakfast, no frozen or reheated food, and no cold chicken are treasured on Bali. Simple food, often in scanty amounts, is cooked fresh every single day, and is always consumed in its entirety on that same day. In the villages, the wondrous, redundant, “curiosity” refrigerator often takes lonely pride of place in the living room because the venerable, small, “traditional Balinese kitchen” is still full of soot, smoke and ash!
Tumis Pakis
(STIR-FRIED FERN TIPS WITH GARLIC, CHILI AND SHRIMP PASTE)
Komang Winaya, head chef at the Puri Lumbung Cottages in Munduk, comments that “It’s really different the cooking cultures between Balinese and Westerner. The Balinese cooking culture is on cooking preparation, then they eat all (the dishes) at the same time, while the Western culture is the enjoying the result of cooking: mix with wine, or which dishes come first to suit with certain drinks. We do hope our small hotel can give contribution for food lovers all around the world!” His favorite local creation, “tumis (to stir fry) pakis (fern tips), is just everyday Balinese food dish that can come to each house in Bali.”
Recipe courtesy of the beautiful Puri Lumbung Cottages (guests sleep in luxurious renovated Balinese-style two-story rice barns!) in Munduk, in northern Bali, 2011. Special thanks to the extraordinary Balinese chef at the Puri Lumbung (Komang Winaya) and the very helpful, always courteous Yudhi Ishwari. The Balinese cuisine served at the Puri Lumbung’s relaxed mountain restaurant in Munduk (with nearby, panoramic views all the way across the sea to East Java!) is authentic Balinese village food. Puri Lumbung Cottages (A Unique and Authentic Hotel), Munduk Village 81152, North Bali—Indonesia. Phone : +62 362 7012887. www.purilumbung.com.
6 bunches fern tips (1.5 kg)
24 shallots, thinly sliced
12 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
6 big seedless red chilies cut in ¼ in (6 mm) widths
6 small red chilies cut into small pieces
¾ cup coconut oil to stir fry
1 cup liquid chicken stock (or made with Masoko powder in 3 tbs water)
1 tsp salt and pepper
1 tsp shrimp paste
6 tomatoes
Cut the fiddlehead fern tips into 2½ inch (6 cm) lengths and wash.
Heat the pan and pour in the oil.
When the oil is hot, fry the sliced garlic, then the sliced shallots, then add the chili and shrimp paste and stir fry for about 2 minutes.
Add the fern tips and pour in the chicken stock. Simmer until soft.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Tomatoes cut into wedges can be added when the fern tips are nearly cooked. More tomato can be cut into wedges and use as a plate garnish or decoration.
Serves 4–6.
For a vegetarian version, delete the shrimp paste and substitute water for the chicken stock.
Jukut Kacang Panjang Goreng
(STIR-FRIED LONG GREEN BEANS)
Kacang is a generic name for many sorts of pulses, peas and beans. There are many types of kacang (beans) in Bali. Panjang means long (of distance, time or length) and goreng is fried. Kacang panjang itself is a cowpea or long bean (Vigna unguiculata/sinensis/sesquipedalis). Kacang panjang are long green beans on the outside, but when you dry them in the sun, the beans inside turn red. You can fry the kacang beans and eat them as a snack or garnish.
Murni’s Warung is ideally located by the old Dutch suspension bridge in Campuan-Ubud, an easy ten-minute stroll from the cultural heart of Ubud. This gorgeous four-level restaurant is beautifully decorated with Murni’s exquisite Ganesha statuary, rare stone Buddha antiques and local Balinese artworks, and overlooks an enchanting natural river gorge. Murni’s Warung offers a tropical blend of legendary Balinese specialties, outstanding Indonesian classics and superb Western comfort food (and desserts) to thousands of visitors to Bali each year. Here, master restaurateur Murni recreates one of Bali’s most popular village compound vegetable dishes.
Recipe Courtesy of Ni Wayan Murni, Murni’s Warung, Campuhan-Ubud, April 18, 2011.
22/3 lb (1.2 kg) long green beans cut into 1¼ in (3 cm) lengths
30 shallots, finely chopped
18 garlic cloves, finely chopped
18 hot chilies, sliced (use more or less chilies according to taste)
2 tbs shrimp paste
2 tbs Masoko chicken powder (or 1 chicken stock cube, crumbled)
small amount of chicken stock to moisten
2 tbs coconut oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 onions, sliced
Heat the oil in a pan and fry all the above ingredients except the green beans, onions and chicken stock until cooked. Use a high heat for 2–3 minutes.
Add the beans and continue to cook until done. Add a little stock if the mixture is too dry.
Fry the onions until crisp and use as a garnish.
Serves 4–6.
Leped Lindung
(PEPES BELUT, EEL ROLLED IN BANANA LEAF)
Leped (Balinese) and Pepes (Bahasa Indonesia) both mean “roll.” Lindung is Balinese for “eel” (kopat is Balinese for sea eel), and belut means eel in Bahasa Indonesia.
Eel is a cheap food in Bali and can be procured all year round. Eels are also plentiful and easy to catch in Nusa Lembongan. Fishermen bring them in every day by boat from the sea (lindung refers to swamp eels). In Bali, eels are sourced and caught in the sawah (rice fields). Belut refers to rice field eels or Asian swamp eels. The essential local cooking process is summed up in three easy, magical words: “Grill, steam and roll!” Either a man or a woman can cook this dish for their family. Sea eels are used for this recipe in Nusa Lembongan.
Recipe courtesy of handsome, smiling, I Wayan Sudirna, the very knowledgeable local Balinese chef at the beautifully designed Tanis Villas resort on stunning Mushroom Bay in Nusa Lembongan. The Tanis Villas boasts exquisite tasting jukung-fresh snapper, tuna and squid. The overnight fishing boats arrive on the beach right outside the Tanis between 7 and 8 a.m. every morning, loaded with a catch of wriggling
