Grinding up spices in Seminyak Bali

Indonesian cooking involves using herbs and spices. Ika has a little store of items under the sink, ready for making a sauce. This afternoon she was grinding a few things together using a pestle and mortar, very popular in Indonesia. In Java the grinder is called a muntu and the bowl a cobek. It doesn’t take long at all to turn ingredients into a paste. Ika was planning to cook some fish and wanted to use garlic, tumeric and salt. She also uses cilantro (coriander) seeds, fish paste, cabe (chili) and range of other items depending on the dish.

Maybe I can get Ika to learn to cook Thai food! The only time I cook at home is to make bbq or a sandwich. Speaking of sandwiches, how would you like to get stuck into this baby?