Monday, July 09, 2012

Visiting Pasar Badung, Denpasar + {recipe} Balinese Satay.

We had a short vacation in Bali about 1.5 weeks ago.
Actually that was my second trip to Bali after moved back to Indonesia, 3 years ago.

Back from the refreshing trip, we happily celebrated my mom's 70th birthday early July. Only last week, I had time to check the photos that I took during our trip in Bali. Oh,...it's a lot. And I remember the pictures that I took in Bali 1.5 years ago, that was supposed to be shared in this blog but unfortunately until now they are still sitting quietly on a special album; most of them are re-sized and ready to be blogged.

For a moment I have no idea where to start blogging about both trips, how to arrange the pictures that have story & are connected each other. Where to start, which picture I have to put first, second, and so on, since all of them has their own beauty and story...At the end, I decided to divide the story by their location in two postings. The first one is about the 'beach' area and the second will be about the 'highland' area.

For now, let me share some pictures that I took on our last day in Bali last week, during our trip visiting Badung Market, in Denpasar (the capital city of Bali Province).

The traditional market is always on our list to visit, especially when we are in a new place/city. It was our last day in Bali, when we decided to visit Pasar Badung (Badung Market) in Denpasar. It took about 30 minutes from our hotel in Legian to arrive in this market.

This is the biggest market in Denpasar, has 4 storeys with giant concrete structure and beautiful Balinese architecture. Located in Gajah Mada Street, only about 1 km from the city center.

Crowded? Yes. Were the kids complaining, grumbling ? Yup. "Why we have to visit this market?" asked my son. And I heard my husband answered,"I'm sorry that you have parents who like to visit traditional market". ha..ha.. hmm, one day they'll be grateful for this experience.

Like almost in every places in Bali, in the market we also found people praying according to Balinese Hinduism tradition and send their offering. That makes the market in Bali different with other traditional markets. The smell of smoky incense combine with the aroma of many flowers, accompanying our steps, and gave a special impression.It's a very colorful market, very interesting, and naturally unique.

We walked through the market corridors, saw here and there, say hi to some sellers, enjoy the pleasant atmosphere. Since we're on vacation, I'm free from my cooking job, so we didn't come to buy raw ingredients. But we enjoyed some of the traditional food and snack.

pic : Delicious Balinese Pork Satay

For me, Balinese food is one of the most exotic food that I've ever tried. It's very rich. Rich of flavor, texture and the most interesting one, it's rich of ingredients and spices. Really appetizing.

Actually, Balinese food is not on the list in our daily menu. I don't regularly cook this type of dishes, even I'm familiar with those food. One thing very interesting I know is that Balinese Culinary has a concept of the five basic spices that each of them is the basic 'paste' spices to cook certain main ingredient. Interesting! *please correct me if I'm wrong*

As I wrote before I don't have special experience about Balinese Culinary. One site that you can check if you want to learn more about Balinese Food is Ira's Blog. She lives in Bali, has more experience to cook some Balinese Food and share it on her beautiful blog, Cooking Tackle.

pic : A wide selection of Balinese side dishes, can be choose according to our taste, and served with steam rice.

pic : Mix Sweet Porridge. We tried all of them, mixed in one bowl. Super delicious!

Our great morning adventure in Badung Market, gave me inspiration trying to make Balinese Satay at home. Our Children really like our homemade 'simple' chicken satay. Since a couple of months ago, we decided to have a Friday night barbeque at our back terrace. Even we don't have special equipment and only use the very simple one, but both of our children are really excited to help me preparing the outdoor cooking together. So, last week... our Friday Night become more special with Balinese Satay.

Again, it's very rich of spices. Easy to prepare, the result is aromatic and delicious satay. Serving with delicious peanut sauce. What a great dinner we had.

2. Combine the sauteed seasoning with meat, stir, mix well until the spices evenly. Let stand for 30-60 minutes to allow flavors to infuse.

3. Saute meat again that has been spiced up, and cook until meat is tender, if necessary add enough hot water and cook until the meat is really tender and water dries, remove from heat. Allow to cool.

4. Prepare the skewers that have been in soak. 4 pieces of meat skewers on each skewer, finish up consumables.

5. Heat the grill on the stove or hot coals, place skewers on it. Bake with a back and forth and rubbing seasoning or cooking oil until cooked and the flavor out, remove from heat.

6. Peanut sauce: Boil the peppers, onion, and garlic, then puree with lime leaves, shrimp paste, salt, sugar and brown sugar. Enter the nuts finely, mix with water until dough is smooth pour. Put it in the pan, jerang on the fire, bring to a boil, remove from heat. Add soy sauce and lemon juice, stir.