the ideal access point for world-class snorkeling expeditions, mangrove forest adventure tours and journeys to unspoiled sister islands Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida. It also has close truck or motorbike proximity to idyllic Dream Beach, picturesque seaweed farms and Lembongan village. www.tanisvillas.com, December 2011.
22/3 lb (1.2 kg) sea eels (10–11 inches/25–28 cm in length)
1 whole young coconut
6 banana leaves for the rolling
1½ oz (40 g) ginger
1 tsp lesser galangal
1½ oz (40 g) turmeric
50 g shallot
40 g garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
½ lb (250 g) small, hot red chilies
kaffir lime leaves
Chop all the Balinese spices until very small and grate the coconut.
Wash the eel, cut off the head and chop into very small, smooth pieces.
Put the eel in a bowl and season with the Balinese spices. Add the grated coconut and mix well.
Roll the mixture in a banana leaf, adding one kaffir lime leaf to each roll. Then, either steam or grill the roll.
If steaming, wrap the eel mixture in only one banana leaf wrapper and place in a traditional Balinese rice steamer (kukusan). Steam for 20 minutes. If grilling, wrap the mixture in 2–3 banana leaves for protection and to retain moisture. Place the roll directly on the flames over an active fire, not a grill, built over a traditional sandpit. A stick on which to string the eel is suspended above the fire, balanced on two large side stones. Grill for 25–30 minutes.
Serves 4–6.
CHAPTER THREE
Traditional Village Foods: Cooking in the Compound
Human nourishment can be divided into four basic food categories according to source: ocean, air, land and field. The Balinese eat all as they pray to the goddess of rice, Dewi Sri, for the ongoing gift of life-sustaining food for their island. In China, there is a saying that the people will “eat anything with wings except an airplane, and anything with four legs except a table.” China’s cooks routinely prepare whatever is available locally, whether for upscale Imperial-style banquet halls or open-air street markets and stalls: braised bear paw (the more tender left paw is preferred), snake meat stir-fried with civet cat, deep-fried crispy scorpion, pangolin (an endangered species) stew, roast dog meat and free-range field rat kebabs!
The meats and ingredients may differ but the sentiment is much the same in Bali. A high Brahman priest told resident cultural observer Miguel Covarrubias in the 1930s that the Balinese are only prohibited from eating “human flesh, tigers, monkeys, dogs, crocodiles, mice, snakes, frogs, certain poisonous fish, leeches, stinging insects, crows, eagles, owls, and birds with moustaches.” Covarrubias also noted that while the Balinese eat chicken, duck, pork and, more rarely, beef and buffalo, they are fond of “stranger foods” like dragonflies (capung), crickets, flying ants and bee larvae.
Common threads run through all of Balinese cuisine but different regional styles and usable food resources are found in every corner of the island. Traditional Balinese foods include such natural elements as dragonflies, baby bees, coconut tree larvae, grilled young bamboo, young bamboo soup, young tree trunk soup, sweet and sour frog, rice field eels in banana leaf, fried rice field snails, nasi sela (rice mixed with sweet potato), nasi jagung (rice mixed with corn) and rock-hard taop nuts. Such delicacies leave an indelible impression on young Balinese children who crave them in adulthood, especially during prolonged absences from their traditional villages.
In western Bali, in particular, informal village foods continue to thrive. Dragonflies are a favorite delicacy although they are difficult and time-consuming to catch as they are continually on the wing, landing only briefly on rice stalks. Children hunt dragonflies in the fields using long poles called kayu panjang (kayu is wood or tree and panjang long), the ends smeared with sticky sap as a trap. They pull the wings off, pierce the dragonfly bodies live on a stick, roast and eat them. At home, the bodies are grilled or deep-fried in coconut oil with spices and vegetables.
The villagers of Tengkudak in Tabanan regency, near Mt Batukaru, like everything emanating from the rice fields, from grasshoppers to dragonflies, eels and live baby bees. These villagers also have their own “dragonfly with cassava” recipe called Rempeyek (cracker) capung (dragonfly). The dragonflies are captured in the rice fields using a three-tiered device. A long, firm coconut leaf spine is inserted into a bamboo tube handle and sticky sap collected from a jackfruit or frangipani tree is smeared on the tip. The flying prey become irrevocably fixed to the sap of the magical hunting wand when they touch it. Many more practical Balinese sidestep the hard-to-make bamboo handle and substitute a large easy-to-obtain banana leaf spine instead. They attach the coconut leaf spine to the top of the banana leaf spine with sticky sap, thus attaining the desired sky-level height to catch dragonflies on the wing. The banana leaf handle is simply thrown away afterwards. Utilizing only the bodies, not the wings, the requisitioned dragonflies are crushed using a stone mortar (batu base) and pestle, while their co-ingredient, cassava, is scraped with a hand-held traditional parutan (grater). The desiccated dragonflies and grated cassava are mixed with garlic, chili, lesser galangal and seasoning into a soft paste and then fried like a wafer-thin kripik (cracker) until dry, or coaxed into a thick, round fritter. Once the wings are removed, Ubud’s dragonflies get the cordon bleu treatment usually reserved for fish, as pesan capung, grilled dragonfly in a banana leaf roll with spices. Dragonfly soup (kuah capung) is another popular culinary tradition. The wings are removed and the bodies boiled in water with spices and fresh turmeric leaf for added flavor. In northern Bali, Lovina’s dragonflies are simply served grilled with raw sambal matah.
In western Bali, baby bees (nyawan) are often cooked with coarsely grated or shredded coffee leaves (jejeruk nyawan dan don kopi). To produce this dish, bee hives, located in trees or under house roofs, are raided and the honeycomb sheltering live, stingless baby bees is sold in the market or sold by door-to-door street vendors. The entire honeycomb containing still-living bees is boiled whole in hot water for ten minutes, by which time the bees will be well done. The young coffee leaves are boiled separately as they have a bitter taste. The water is discarded and the coffee leaves wrung out and left to dry, after which they are sliced. A sambal sauce is then made of sliced onions, garlic and chili fried in coconut oil. Coconut milk is then boiled for five minutes before the sambal is mixed into it. Lastly, the shredded baby bees, sliced coffee leaves, salt and MSG are mixed together. The natural honeycomb is later eaten separately.
The villagers of western Balinese are also fond of coconut tree larvae, which tastes like milk. They chop down a rotting coconut tree, split open the trunk and look for white larvae (ancruk) inside to be either eaten plain or boiled with chili and salt as a sambal.
Grilled fresh bamboo, called embung (young) tiing (bamboo) tabah (a specific bamboo species) metambus (Balinese for grilled), is another natural food supplement. A short young bamboo tree is harvested and cut down near the bottom of the trunk, up to 30 cm high where the bamboo is tender and sweet. The intact conical tube is then grilled on top of a wood fire until blackened. When done, the outer bamboo bark is removed and the interior is sliced and mixed with coconut oil, grilled chilies
