Ubud: The Healing Spices
It is true what they say: the food in Ubud is the best in Bali. This is not a town to visit when you are a diet. The restaurant where I had booked my cookery course—on an impulse after looking at the menu— was next to a place where John and I ate lunch on the day I managed to drag him out for a walk: Warung Ibu Oka which serves the best suckling pig (Babi guling) I have ever eaten, for about a quid a pop. A bargain, even by local standards. Normally, if you want to try this Balinese speciality, you’d have to be invited to a ceremony or, failing that, order a day ahead at an expensive restaurant for a minimum of two persons and expect to pay five times the price.
But Warung Ibu Oka is democratic: more locals than tourists shared the low tables on a wooden platform under the roof (it was threatening to rain again). We had to sit on the floor: the seating arrangement was intended for the Japanse, who, although they are not great pork eaters, comprise the majority of tourists in Bali. Ubud especially caters to them. That Babi guling was one of the best meals I have ever eaten. If you’re in Ubud, don’t miss it, but note that the Warung Ibu Oka serves nothing else, so leave your vegetarian friends at home.
Anyway, I was back in the area the next morning, sitting at a table in the as yet empty restaurant next door. The restaurant, ‘Bumbu Bali’ (bumbu is the word for spices or flavour; there is a more famous restaurant with the same name on Nusa Dua), is renowned for its traditional cuisine. While the original Bumbu Bali in central Ubud also serves Indian curries (which confused me a bit), its sister restaurant on Monkey Forest Road sticks to Balinese specialities and is the one place in Ubud where I found a single portion-size of bebek betutu: duckling stuffed with spices, wrapped in banana leaves and slowly cooked over glowing embers, giving it a rich, smoky flavour. This almost, but not quite, topped the babi guling. No wonder that I could hardly wait for the start of the course, which would begin with a trip to the market. I was a bit apprehensive, wondering whether I could still wield a chef’s knife, but then I reasoned that this course was run for tourists—there were two more people expected—and we would be unlikely to actually set foot in the kitchen.
And so it turned out to be. After a quick round of the market stalls (of which there were few: Ubud’s main bazar specialises in—what else—souveniers and artwork) we gathered round a long table in a corner of the main restaurant and watched, ate, listened and ate some more as head chef Made explained ingredients, demonstrated recipes and talked about his life as a chef and the ceremonial feasts he helps to prepare in his home village. By the time he was finished with us, we had gorged on tasted no fewer than seven dishes, and that was before he showed us to another table with sweet cocktails and deserts. It was a most agreeable morning, even if I could barely walk on my way back to Hannoman Street.
Made started with the basics. He passed around each of the ingredients for the spice paste which lies at the heart of most Balinese dishes: base gede, which means ‘complete sauce’ (there are variations, but base gede will serve for most purposes). The fresh components not only serve to add flavour but have health-giving properties:
Garlic,as everybody knows, is good for you, but worries about bad breath puts some people off. Made advises to chew parsley or drink some milk after a garlicky meal and voilà: no bad breath.
Ginger, the spice we are all familiar with, is good for the stomach. The active ingredients are only released in hot liquid, so infuse about 5cm of crushed ginger (don’t be shy) with boiling water or tea and add a few drops of lime juice.
Greater galangal (or ‘laos’) is familiar from Thai cooking. Also known as ‘hot’ or ‘spicy’ ginger, this has a great flavour but—guess what—no medicinal uses.
Lemon grass is likewise familiar from Thai cooking. For soups, broths and hot spicy drinks, bash with the back of a knife to bruise and tie in a knot. Great with tea (black or mint), lime juice and honey. Add ginger if desired. All-round goodness.
Lesser galangal (kencur) actually smells medicinal. This may be the hardest spice to find back at home; if you can only get it dried, soak overnight before use. In Bali, the fresh root is used to cure flu in babies: rice is soaked, then ground and mixed with grated kencur, rubbed onto the sleeping baby’s chest and left until it wakes up, feeling much better. It’s messy, but it may just work in adults too.
Tumeric, has recently attracted attention from the scientific community because of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. It may be the source of new drugs to fight arthritis and cancer as well as combat airway infections in cystic fibrosis sufferers (which makes it just one of many antimicrobial components which are as yet under-researched, despite the rising mortality rate from infections by antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’. It’s all down to the money—perhaps in this case the pharma companies managed to slap a patent on it which is why they are still interested in developing this). Fresh tumeric is an antiseptic. In Made’s kitchen, people who cut themselves apply a dollop of grated tumeric to the wound. It also has general ‘blood-cleansing’ properties. For two weeks after giving birth, women in Bali drink a potion prepared from 5cm crushed tumeric infused in cold water with honey and lime juice, then strained. We might consider using this in the West.
After explaining the many beneficial properties of the spices, Made closed with a note of caution: the tough seeds of mild, red chillies and bell peppers are extremely bad for the liver and should always be removed (the seeds of small, hot chillies are fine). You have been warned.
When I next get an opportunity to visit Soho and shop for the long list of fresh ingredients needed to make base gede, I will try my hands at some of the recipes which Made made look so easy and, if they’re successful, will pass them on under my ’round the world recipes’ category.
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