A cook's tour in Bali

By MEGAN NEIL - AAP | Tuesday, 08 July 2008

A few gentle strokes on the back of the chicken's neck and sure enough, Charlie is soon hypnotised.

Learning the secret of how to hypnotise a chicken is one of the allures of this Balinese cooking class, even if it does mean a 6am start to hit the local markets.

Tired expressions are quickly replaced by worried looks when the chef holds up Charlie and says: "How much fresher could Charlie come? It doesn't get fresher than that."

But today is Charlie's lucky day; he won't meet his fate just yet.

At 30,000 to 50,000 Indonesian rupiah (about $NZ4.40 to $NZ7.20), the Bali mamas who shop at Bali's Pasar Jimbaran could never afford him for their daily meals.

With only 30,000IDR to 40,000IDR a day to feed the average family of four, Bali mama cannot opt for a live chicken. They're saved for ceremonial offerings.

It's rice that's the key to the average Balinese menu, says Heinz von Holzen, who runs Bumbu Bali Restaurant and Cooking School.

"Keep in mind that rice is the most important thing and everything else becomes garnish," Heinz says.

Bali mamas can make just 75 grams of meat go a long way; done properly it can flavour half a kilo of rice.

Heinz comes up with another most important thing in a Balinese kitchen – spice mixes – as he points to a myriad of spices and chillies spread out before him.

"Balinese food is not spicy. Balinese food is spiced," he explains.

Few tourists come to this market, although Heinz thinks they're missing out. Perhaps it's because of the early starts.

By 7am, there's only a few buyers left in the little alleyways.

Most of the Bali mamas, as Heinz likes to call them, come here when the market's in full swing, at 3.30-4am.

They do the basic, everyday cooking. The Bali papas take over the complicated or special occasion cooking.

Heinz, the author of four cookbooks, brings his cooking school students here to collect the spices, meat, chicken, cakes and fruit they need for the day's program.

The seafood comes from another market nearby.

Swiss-born Heinz has been doing this for 11 years to get the freshest seafood, while also buying produce for his restaurant.

Up until about four years ago there was an abundance of fish.

"It was just incredible," Heinz says during a stop at Jimbaran beach. "It just kept coming and coming and coming."

Then it stopped.

"The oceans here in Bali are clearly empty, there's no more fish," Heinz says.

"Now, for about four years, we struggle every single day just to get enough fish for the restaurant."

There's not much here at this first stop, but it's a different story a short drive past a long strip of seafood restaurants.

On the water and the beach sit what seem to be hundreds of boats, all decorated in bright colours and patterns.

Nearly all of the boats have come to Kedonganan Beach at Kuta from the nearby island of Java.

It's buzzing with activity. There's no escaping that distinct seafood odour as we walk though the stalls.

After collecting all our ingredients, we head back to the cooking school to enjoy a delicious breakfast of Balinese cakes, fruits, black rice pudding and sweet rice flour dumplings in palm sugar coconut sauce.

It's a short respite before being put to work to create 25 Balinese dishes.

Just like the secret herbs and spices in KFC, the key to Balinese cooking lies in the spice paste.

"If you want to do Balinese cooking at home you need to go and get the spices first," Heinz advises.

He adds that you should spend one day just on making the spice pastes – seafood, beef, chicken and the basic paste.

Cool it down overnight in the fridge before smearing the spice paste inside an ice cube tray; freeze it; then put the cubes into plastic bags or airtight containers.

Once you have the spice paste you can do a lot more than Balinese cooking, Heinz says, suggesting it be used for marinades or barbecues.

"If you do it that way it's fun. Otherwise to do Balinese cooking is too labour intensive."

He's right. There's 12 of us working with Heinz and his Balinese chef Pak Bagus but it takes a long time to prepare 25 dishes.

At some point we all yawn (it's been an early start) and I even find myself day dreaming about the Bloody Mary we had at Sydney airport as I wonder whether a TV dinner girl like me will ever spend a day making spice paste.

I do, however, discover how much difference a pinch of salt and a bit of lime juice can make to an otherwise boring dish.

We're all very happy to taste-test the ayam pelalah (shredded chicken with chillies and lime) and the easy-to-make urab jagung (sweet corn and coconut snack).

I even leap at the chance to make godoh biu, an exotic sounding name for a favourite dessert of mine, fried bananas.

We even make nasi goring (fried rice), even though Heinz is at pains to point out that the dish, served just about everywhere in Bali, is not native to the island.

Finally we make a mountain of food and work our way through the recipe handout.

Then comes the best part: eating the banquet of tasty food we'd prepared ourselves.

I'm still not inspired enough to buy a stone mortar and pestle to grind spices back home, but the sweet corn and coconut and fried bananas may get a try.

Oh, and Charlie lived to see another day, well at least until the next ceremony.