Cooking Class in Ubud

So far in our blog all we have done in almost every post is RAVE about the food in Bali. From Chicken satay to Mie Goreng, this place has some really tasty dishes. So we thought it was time to take a cooking class and actually learn how to make some of our favorites to make them at home in the future and for our friends and family to try. (If they’re lucky!)

There were many cooking schools in Ubud, but we decided to take an afternoon class from Payuk Bali. We're confident that we chose the right place. When we got to the compound we were met with smiling and bubbling Ketut the Chef in charge, AKA Mr. Personality! He was so animated and excited to teach us. We were constantly laughing as he kept pronouncing “sauce” with a different accent each time. He liked to change the emphasis on different syllables everytime, “SAAAAAAAAAWWssssss”!

The class consisted of us, a couple from Germany, and a family of 4 from Australia. It began with a teaching on the daily family traditions focusing on making offerings. We have not mentioned this before, but absolutely everywhere in Bali, you see these little square trays made out of coconut leaves filled with all sorts of items. Some with flowers, snacks, rice, incense and always with green mossy leaves. They are found in the middle of the streets, in front of shops, stacked in front of temples, all around hotels, in taxis, and even on motor bikes. They are EVERYWHERE! We learned that in the Hindu religion these offerings are made to honor god, their ancestors, and the spirit. The little trays are good luck and keep the bad spirits out. Fun Fact: bad spirits cannot turn corners, which is why these offerings are usually in the middle of the sidewalk or road. Ketut explained that one family can make 50 offerings a day! Anyways, we were delighted to finally find the meaning of these offerings and even happier to make one ourselves!

After our offerings were taken away to be used later that afternoon, we were taken to a stove where Ketut's mother was making coconut oil, a pretty simple process. The meat of 6 coconuts are grated and then boiled in water. Once it is strained, the oil from the coconut rises to the surface of the water. A ladle is used to scoop the oil on top while trying hard not to scoop any of the water with it and put in a separate bowl. Once all the oil appears strained from the boiled water, the strained oil is then boiled again, and the process repeats itself. It seemed very timely and tedious.

After the lesson in coconut oil making it was time to strap on the aprons and get cooking! We had lots to do to make a 7 course menu with multiple sauces. We first began by chopping many of the ingredients. Most we have seen before, but some were new. We learned of 3 new types of ginger, aromatic ginger, turmeric, and galangal. We tried palm sugar, and smelled Bali leaf which was described as being the Balinese bay leaf.

After chopping, we took turns grinding three sauces together. The first was Base Gede, which is a basic sauce filled of many potent spices. One generous scoop of this was used in almost every dish we made. The next sauce we ground together was peanut sauce and lastly was sambal aka Balinese hot sauce!

While we were cooking the peanut sauce and sambal we all took turns "mincing" some chicken to the consistency of ground chicken. The Balinese method, is not to put the meat through a meat grinder, but to put the chicken in a large stone with a hole in it and then beat the chicken with a pole really hard! haha so much fun! Not sure how sanitary it was, but we’re still here to tell the tale. It was a riot!

We took a break from the chopping, cooking and pounding of chicken to make some Nasi Kuning or yellow rice in Balinese. In a bowl, rice had been soaking in water for 20 minutes. We drained the water and put it in a really cool looking steamer with a metal bottom for water containment and a straw hat-looking device that held the rice. There the rice was steamed for 20 minutes. Then it was taken out and soaked again in more water and our basic sauce (making the rice yellow) for another 20 minutes. Then it was steamed again for another 20 minutes! Who knew it took so long to make rice?

The next dish we made was chicken satay with our "minced" chicken. It is essentially a chicken meatball on stick and then cooked over a grill. It was delicious and went perfectly with our peanut sauce and sambal!

Next on the menu was Ikan Pepes, or steamed tuna in banana leaf. We mixed the tuna with a few ingredients and rolled perfect banana leaf packets sealed with a bamboo stick. They were first steamed and then put on the grill to be cooked.

Side by side we made the chicken and vegetable soup and fried chicken, both with a huge scoop of the Base Gede.

Finally we finished by making Kolak Pisang which is braised banana in palm sugar gravy.

After all that cooking, we were so hungry and very much proud of all the food we had made. It was absolutely delicious thanks to all the cooks in the kitchen and chef Ketut!