Recent travel:
Cooking and food isn’t a very common hobby amongst kids my age but I absolutely love it. Last year December me and my family went to Bali,Indonesia, although most of the time we stayed in the resort, but I still learned so much about Indonesian cuisine from my trial cooking class and local food, so I’d like to share a couple of things I learned.
Let’s start from the basics, Bali had these small plates of side dishes that came with almost every main dish or just as small appetizers, they are called Sambal and they come in many varieties such as the classic Red chili Sambal or my personal favorite Shallot Sambal, the shallot Sambal mainly consisted of shallots(duh), half a red chili, lime and some optional lime zest and of course the heart and soul of most Sambals the fish sauce & Shrimp paste, most foreigners tend to not like the smell or taste of these 2 ingredients since they are “too pungent and strong”, but these bring incredible flavor to the Sambal and it’s found in many South East Asian cuisines.
To those who haven’t tried Indonesian cuisine I’ll sum it up in one phrase: Layers of strong, exotic and sophisticated flavors.
This cuisine may be depicted as “cheap street food” with popular dishes like Nasi Goreng (fried rice) being served in mere minutes in a small street stand in a food street at night packed with crowded, hungry people, and in some way this depiction may be true, but through this trip to Bali I’ve gotten to appreciate these simple yet highly technique demanding dishes, from the umami of the fish sauce, to the subtle sourness of the lime zest shaved before serving; from the earthy flavor of steaming the cod in banana leaves, to making sure the Sate Padang comes out from the charcoal grills down to the seconds to ensure a soft inside while getting a beautiful char outside…. These are the sophisticated side of this so called “simple” cuisine that without careful exploring and questioning you’ll never notice.
So, the one thing I hope you can take away from reading this blog is to try Indonesian Cuisine, it’s really overlooked despite its deep flavors in simple ingredients passed down from generations.
(The dish in the picture is what i made during my trial cooking class in Bali: Shallot sambal, Sweet potatoe rice, Banana leaf cod and Bean sprout salad