Two weeks in Indonesia

Creating an authentic Balinese meal as orchestrated by a wonderful chef.


I had a lovely time in Indonesia and rather than write about restaurants, I would like to tell you about the new dishes I learned about and enjoyed.

The high point in the cuisine story was the wonderful cooking class I went to where we made 8 Balinese dishes and three or four sauces. It was at the home of Wayan and Puspa and is called Paon Cooking Class. (My travel agent knew about it. You can find them on the web and the class costs 35,000 rupiah or about $37 American dollars.) Not only was it a hands-on experience but the meal we had was a real feast.

Three of us started in the market in Ubud, Bali, where Maday took us around to show us some of the exotic fruits you now see in very gourmet shops in your town like rambutan or mangoustan. Maday is known at the market so there was not problem with her opening up some of these fruits for us so that we could taste them.

Next, we met the rest of the group at the rice fields, where Wayan showed us the rice plants and seeds and showed us how to husk them. It is a very tedious and long job and I wondered with him why rice isn't more expensive. I guess it is the story of cheap labor.

From then, we went to his home and met charming Puspa.

They spoke to us about some interesting Balinese customs, like the fact that everyone who is the first born has the same name (Wayan) and so on until number 4 (Ketuk). For a fifth child, the name is Wayan again. Of course, each person has a family name and a given name so although I met many Wayans and Madays (number 2), they do go by a different name within the family.

Then we set to work and everyone participated. Maday was there to oversee along with Puspa and one other family member. The large kitchen with dining areas was outside. There is a long workspace with counter and several burners. Opposite the opposite the modern area is the outdoor fireplace where Puspa made coconut oil. Puspa talked to us about all the ingredients and explained what we would be making.

Indonesian and Balinese Cuisine is very spicy and they use a lot of vegetables. I love Urab Urab which is a delicious cold vegetable salad with a spicy sauce often served as a side dish. There is the Indonesian curry, usually with chicken but also with tofu. They use tempeh (fermented tofu which comes in a cylinder) and either fry it up so it is crunchy and serve with a spicy sauce, or add it uncooked to gado gado, a famous dish with tofu, tempeh, vegetables in a delicious sauce. Tuna is also to be found on the menu quite often. Ours was steamed in banana leaf.

The class was great because Puspa rotated all of us into different jobs.

After several hours of work, we sat down to a fantastic meal. I have not yet mentioned the clear mushroom soup, chicken sate, and white and red (rarer) rice to accompany all the dishes. Puspa put chopped chile and served it in separate bowls for the people who wanted to up their spice quotient for this feast.

I went to many restaurants in Bali, Jogjakarta and Lombok and had variations on the same theme everyday. But I must say that the meal that was the most fun and most delicious was at Wayan and Puspa's home.