Discovering the Secrets of Balinese Cuisine - Uncovering your palette

Betutu is a popular Balinese dish, which is cooked using an entire chicken or duck that is first filled with Balinese spices and then wrapped in banana leaves. It is then tightly packed into the trunk of a banana tree and either baked in the oven or cooked over a hot coal fire for six to seven hours. Once cooked, the juicy and flavour-filled meat falls off the bone and will melt in your mouth.

Sate Lilit, Bali’s version of satay or sate, is made using chicken, pork, fish, minced beef, turtle meat or tofu mixed with boiled vegetables, coconut milk, spices and coconut wrapped around bamboo, lemongrass or sugar cane sticks. The dish is so flavourful that it can be enjoyed even without a dipping sauce.

Babi Guling is another dish that is popular among the locals in Bali. The dish is made using spit-roasted pork, which is filled with Bali spices and an assortment of vegetables and rolled over a coal fire. Once cooked, the meat inside this dish will be juicy and tender while the outer skin will be brown and crispy. Initially, this dish was cooked only during festivals and other special occasions but now is freely available at restaurants and eateries all over Bali.

A classic Bali mix that is made using grated coconut, vegetables, chopped meat, and Thai spices and is best enjoyed when served as soon as it is prepared. This dish comes in two variations depending on which area of Bali you visit; white and red Lawar. The red version of this dish is prepared using meat and fresh blood while the white version of this dish will not contain fresh blood or any meat.

Nasi Campur is Bali’s rendition of chicken rice and is served alongside Balinese delicacies like betutu, hot sambal matatah, mixed vegetables and even with a bowl of soup sometimes. This dish can be enjoyed at restaurants offered by Bali resorts the likes of Anantara Uluwatu Bali. If you don’t want the dish to be too spicy, ask them to prepare it without the sambal.

One of Indonesia’s most well-known dishes, Nasi Goreng is Indonesia’s own version of fried rice. The dish is made using a mix of meats and chopped-up vegetables like green peas, onions, chicken, scrambled eggs, anchovies, and shrimp mixed with pre-steamed rice and kecap manis, soy sauce or hot chilli sauce. The dish is garnished with fish shrimp, mixed pickles, a slice of cucumber or tomato and shrimp krupuk crackers.

Laklak is a traditional Balinese cake made using coconut milk and rice flour. The cake is greenish in colour due to the pandan leaves and suji leaves that are used to make this delicacy. Laklak is served along with jackfruit with brown sugar sauce or grated coconuts, which give it both a savoury and sweet taste. It is served as a snack to accompany your morning tea or coffee.