Babi guling stand in Lodtunduh Bali

My trip to Ubud this week was a virtual kaleidoscope of Balinese sights and sounds. Riding south after visiting Linda Garland’s place in Nyuhkuning and the Pawitra Sari art gallery in Pengosekan, I rode through a crossroads of a small village called Lodtunduh.

The first thing that caught my eye was the drink stand on the corner and gasping in the hot sun, I swung around and parked. Offering a friendly ’selamat sore’ (good afternoon), I ordered a lime Fanta and got comfortable on the wooden bench. At that point I saw the babi guling (suckling pig), that was being sold. Babi guling is the high point of Balinese cooking. Ask anyone, they all love it.

The baby pig is spit roasted and served by giving a little bit of everything. You’ll get meat, fat, skin, insides, the lot. I like the meat, but that’s about it.

Here is a recipe for babi guling.

1 suckling pig, weighing about 6-8 kg (13-17 lb)
1 1/2 tablespoon salt
10 shallots, peeled and sliced
6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
5 cm (2 in) ginger, peeled and chopped
15 candlenuts, chopped
10 cm (4 in) fresh turmeric, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons coriander seeds, crushed
5 cm (2 in) laos finely chopped
25-30 bird’s-eye chillies
10 stalks lemon grass, sliced
1 tablespoon black peppercorns, crushed
1 teaspoon dried shrimp paste, roasted
5 fragrant lime leaves, finely shredded
2 salam leaves
2 1/2 tablespoons oil
4 tablespoons turmeric water

Tourists usually do not go crazy over babi guling, so you don’t find it very much in tourist areas. Go outside tourist areas and its everywhere.