The Market and Cooking Class

The theme for our final full day on the bike trip involved food. (Well, actually every day involved lots of food.) First, we visited the market in Klungklung, which was about a 40-minute drive from our hotel. The market building was a fairly new structure, housing the stalls of individual vendors. Each section of the market seemed to have a general focus. In the first section, fruits were featured. Later, came the vegetables. Then, the spices. Finally, the animals. There is very little refrigeration here, so food is purchased in the early morning, cooked right away, and then eaten throughout the day. Here are some of the sights. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, the smells cannot be shared as easily.

Rice cakes

Dried fish

Flower blossoms for offerings

Once we saw where the food came from, we needed to learn what to do with it. Upon our return to the hotel, the hotel's chef conducted a cooking class for us. He first introduced us to the main ingredients in Balinese food and allowed us to taste each one. These included ginger, turmeric, galanga - somewhat similar to ginger, aromatic ginger, lemongrass, lime and Bali lime - more tart than regular lime, shrimp paste, and palm sugar - similar to brown sugar. He passed around pieces for us to smell or taste. 

Then we moved into the dining room where a large counter/table was set up with six woks, cutting boards, and volcanic grinding bowls - mortar and pestle. We each had portions of ingredients prepared for our use. Our first two "dishes" were actually complex ingredients for other dishes. For example, to make bambu Bali, we ground galanga, shallots, turmeric, chilies, and palm sugar into a smooth paste. The chef combined these into one pan, which he boiled with oil and water for a while, then he mixed in lime. The second dish was similar - peanut sauce. ingredients were ground up and then combined with coconut cream. After these two mixtures were prepared, they were used in other dishes, including tofu and tempe curry and a fish mixture steamed in palm leaves. Our final dish was nasi goreng - fried rice. The last step in preparing the rice was to pack it into a bowl and then turn it upside down on a plate. Of course, the entire process ended with our lunch. It was quite yummy.