Learning how to cook Indonesian food
While I love eating Asian food, I barely know how to boil rice myself. Seriously. I buy my rice in those frozen packets from Trader Joe’s or gingerly poke at a pot of Minute Rice, with about 50/50 success rate.
So thank goodness the Warung Enak Indonesian cooking class take-home recipe book includes a how-to on cooking rice—on the very first page! While that wasn’t covered in the class, the day-long course was still a brilliant introduction to Indonesian ingredients and traditional dishes.
The day began with a market tour by Niomanh, the very talented and extremely kind head chef at Warung Enak. The chaos of the Ubud Market can be overwhelming, so it was helpful to have a local explain what certain ingredients were and what they’re typically used for.
Then we headed straight into the kitchen (well, after a strong Balinese kopi, or coffee, of course) at the popular Warung Enak restaurant. We prepared seven different dishes, tasting after each one was complete—and then after we were completely stuffed, we sat down to enjoy our meal. I can promise you one thing: you won’t leave hungry.
Buntil Ayam: sticky rice stuffed with minced chicken, coconut milk, ginger and minced garlic, wrapped in pumpkin leaf
Otak: grilled minced white mackerel wrapped in banana leaf
Garang Asam: seafood in lemongrass and chili, ginger, blue galangal and tumeric broth
Pangek Sapi: spicy beef stew with sweet basil leaves, served with steamed rice and wing beans
Bergedel Jagung: corn fritters served with urab sayur
Kue Lumpur: sultanas and young coconut pancake served with vanilla and chocolate sauce
Pisang Rai: boiled banana beignet
Have you learned to cook Indonesian food? What did you think?
