Balinese food

Balinese traditional food is different from Indonesian food. In tourist areas you will not find many dedicated Balinese restaurants, but once out of the tourist scene its everywhere. Here is a quick look at Balinese food.

Balinese food is hot and spicy (pedas), as well as being peppery. Very often served cold, it reflects the village lifestyle, where people eat by themselves, when they are hungry, instead of a formal family meal. Coconut is central to Balinese cooking and religious ceremony. Coconut is grated and the meat (nyuh) is squeezed to produce a cream, which is added to many local dishes. Coconut oil is used to fry food.

Stopping at one of the thousands of roadside stalls in Bali you might try a plate of tipat cantok. This dish includes lontong, the compacted, rolled rice, cut into chunks, peanuts, lime juice, chilis, sprouts and other items, ground using a pestle and mortar.

In most villages the markets take place every 3 days. Sellers will have fruit, vegetables, beans, grain, you name it. Some of the fruits you will find on sale include, zirzak, salak, jeruk (pink are the best), nangka, blimbing (starfruit), durian, mangosteens, breadfruit, passion fruit (from Kintamani), white mangoes (wani). Of the vegetables you will find, that may not be common to westerners, are greens (kangkung), edible ferns (paku), acacia leaves (twi), tapioca leaves (ketela pohon),

One local snack you can find all over Bali, are Sweet potatoes (ubi), palm sugar, coconut and ketchup. Here in Baliblog’s guide to tropical fruits found in Bali.