Nia Balinese Cooking Class-Seminyak
We’ve been lucking out with small group sizes for day trips- and we got lucky again with Nia Balinese cooking class. There was 8 people total in our group- the morning started by meeting at the restaurant and getting into cars to head to the local market.
The guide, Tommy, showed us around the different stalls. First stop was to show us Hindu offerings and what they’re made up of.
The square basket is made from coconut and banana leaf. The offerings include flowers, banana, rice or something sweet, water, and incense. The offerings are given anywhere from one to three times a day- and are put in homes, cars, places of business etc.
We walked past different stalls with fruit, vegetables, eggs and kitchen tools. Tommy stopped to explain different items used in traditional Balinese cooking- learning that Balinese food is always cooked in coconut oil- and the process of making it- to the varieties of ginger and vegetables that are staples of Balinese kitchens.
Back in the restaurant we had a morning snack of iced tea and sticky rice pudding-sticky caramel sauce, coconut cream and rice dumplings- and were introduced to the chef- Chef Komang.
Chef laid out the three rules for his kitchen:
He has no bandaids or antiseptic so don’t lose a finger
Turn negative into positives- cooking with a positive attitude will bring positivity for the day
No politics or religion talk
We started with a quick lesson in chopping and then it was time to get cooking.
First up was ‘chop chop dice’ through trays of garlic, shallots, ginger, nuts, chilies and turmeric.
Once the spices were chopped and diced- we had to turn them into a paste. Giant mortar & pestles were brought out and everyone had a turn at making the paste-chef said that this prep is the base for a lot of Balinese meals- and the paste can be frozen and kept on hand for easy meals in the future
“Balinese food: takes sixty minutes to prep, six minutes to cook and six seconds to eat”
Once the prep was done we started working on dishes- the menu was:
Roasted chicken in banana leaf: Ayam Betutu-Bali
Pork in sweet soy sauce: Be Celeng Base Manis
Chicken sate: Sate Ayam
Minced seafood sate: Sate Lilit Ikan
Minced chicken in banana leaf: Tum Ayam
Green papaya salad with chicken: Lawar Gedang Ayam
Vegetables in peanut sauce: Gado Gado
Sweet corn and coconut snack: Urab Jagung
Chef Komang was really great about keeping everyone involved from being hands on for a dish or reading out instructions. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere and there was a lot of joking about each other’s cooking styles.
Just like the cooking shows- we would start the dishes and then chef would send them to the kitchen to be finished off.
Cooking finished it was time to eat- we all pulled up chairs and our yummy dishes were brought back out. We had our delicious lunch together and chef brought out our certificates. We left happy with full stomachs and a book of Balinese recipes we can (attempt to) recreate.
