This quick kare tahu recipe  is one of our favourite dishes to cook when we have vegetarian or vegan friends over for lunch. We usually cook it as a mild curry but if you are a chilli-addict, it’s fine to add a few more chillies for extra spice.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
500 gr fresh tofu (sliced into cubes)
3 potatoes (peeled and cut into cubes)
1 stalk of lemongrass (crushed)
2 bayleaves
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 vegetable stock, made up with 150 ml hot water
165 ml coconut milk
Vegetable oil for deep fry

Spice Paste (Grind in pestle and mortar or blend in a food processor):
2 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1 big chilli or more
1 candlenut
A 1/2 cm piece of ginger
A 1/2 cm piece of galangal
A 1 cm piece of fresh Turmeric or 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsb corriander seeds
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Method:

• Heat a pan or wok with enough oil in to deep-fry the tofu until the oil is piping hot, and then deep fry the tofu until it’s cooked or turns brown. Remove from the oil and put into a bowl. Repeat until all the tofu has been deep fried.
• Remove the oil, leaving about 3 tbsp add the spice paste, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and the bay leaves. Stir-fry until fragrant.
• Add the potatoes and the tofu to the wok, mix it very well and then add the coconut milk and the stock. Continue stirring until the potatoes, the tofu and the paste are thoroughly mixed.
• Cover and leave to simmer until the potatoes are cooked through.

Serve with steamed rice or bread such as naan bread or roti canai.

The post Kare tahu recipe (tofu curry) appeared first on Wil and Wayan's Bali Kitchen.

This kering tempe recipe will serve four people as a side dish or will keep well in a cool, dry place if you want to keep it all to yourself.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
200 gr tempe (sliced into thin 2cm matchsticks)
3 shallots (sliced)
75 gr peanuts
2 potatoes (peeled and sliced into matchsticks, soak in salted water for about 5 minutes and then drain thoroughly.
2 bay leaves
1 big chilli (sliced into thin matchsticks)
Oil for deep frying
1/4 vegetable stock cube (mashed)
3 tbsp palm sugar

Spice paste: (Crush in a pestle and mortar)
2 cloves garlic
A 2cm piece of galangal
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Method:
Mix together the tempe and the shallots. Divide the mixture into 3 portions. Heat the pan or wok until the oil is piping hot. Deep fry the tempe until cooked, remove from the oil and put into a bowl. Do it this until the tempe is all used.

When the Tempe is ready, deep fry the peanuts until cooked and crispy, remove from the oil and put into a bowl.

After the peanuts are ready, deep fry the potatoes until cooked and crispy then remove and put into a bowl.

Remove the oil, leaving about 3 tbsp in the wok. Add the spice paste and chilli, stir fry for 1 minute and then add the palm sugar continue stir fry until fragrant. Once it starts to smell delicious, add the tempe, peanuts, potatoes chips, bay leaves and vegetable stock, mix it very gently to blend everything well. If it’s not sweet enough you can add a bit more kecap manis to give it a little extra sweetness.

Serve with sambal goreng ati, nasi gurih and ayam sisit for a complete meal.

The post Crispy kering tempe recipe (sweet, sticky tempe) appeared first on Wil and Wayan's Bali Kitchen.

Nasi gurih is rice cooked with stock and coconut to give it an extra level of flavour. It has cousins such as nasi kuning (yellow rice) or even nasi lemak (Malaysian coconut rice) but because this nasi gurih recipe is simpler, it’s something I tend to cook more often.

This recipe makes enough nasi gurih for four generous portions so if you need more or less, scale it up or down accordingly. For vegetarian and vegans, swap out the chicken stock for vegetable stock.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)
350 gr jasmine rice
1 stalk of lemon grass (crush but leave in one piece)
a 10cm section of pandan leaf
2 bay leaves
165 ml coconut milk topped up with 400 ml and 1/4 cube veg/chicken stock.
a pinch of salt.

Method:
Wash the rice 3 times or until the water it is in is clear. Put the rice into a steamer. Steam until half-cooked.
In a saucepan put the coconut milk blended with the water and stock, bay leaves, lemon grass, pandan leaf and salt, bring to the boil.

Place the half-cooked rice a big bowl and pour the coconut milk mixture onto it, stir well and wait until the water has been absorbed by the rice.

Put the rice back into the steamer and continue to cook until it is cooked through and fragrant .
Serve with sambal goreng hati, bihun or mie goreng, ayam sisit or tempe lalah manis.

The post Wayan’s really simple nasi gurih recipe (Coconut rice) appeared first on Wil and Wayan's Bali Kitchen.

Sambal goreng hati is one my favourite dishes when I have guests around or it’s someone’s birthday. It goes best with nasi kuning (yellow coconut rice) or nasi gurih (coconut rice with pandan leaves and chicken stock). In Indonesia there are lots of nasi kuning stall with sambal goreng hati and we often eat it for breakfast or dinner.

Ingredients: (Serves 6)
250 gr chicken liver
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
2 bay leaves
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 tsp turmeric powder
500 ml water
1/4 vegetable stock
165 ml coconut milk
3 tbsp veg/sunflower oil
5 tbsp Kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)

Spice paste: (Grind in a mortar and pestle or with a food processor)
2 cloves garlic
A 3cm piece of ginger
2 big chillies
1 candlenut
Salt & pepper (to taste)

Method:
1. Put 500ml of water in a small saucepan. Add the chicken liver, bay leaves, turmeric powder, vegetable stock, and salt. Bring to the boil until the chicken liver is cooked. Drain, let it cool and then cut it into 1cm pieces. Save the bay leaves and add again to the mixture at step 3.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add potatoes. Stir-fry for 10 minutes and then add the paste and cook until fragrant.
3. Add the chicken lever to the saucepan with the lime kaffir leaves and continue stirring until mixed well. Add the coconut milk and kecap manis and simmer until the mixture has thickened.
Serve with rice, mie goreng and ayam sisit.

The post Wayan’s quick and easy sambal goreng hati recipe appeared first on Wil and Wayan's Bali Kitchen.

This tum babi recipe will make about 15 parcels and if you don’t eat pork, you can replace the pork with minced chicken or beef. Using banana leaves to wrap the tum will give you an authentic Balinese flavour but if you are unable to get any, it’s fine to use tin foil instead.

Ingredients (15 tum):
500 gr minced pork
3 bay leaves
2 veg oil
Banana leaves or tin foil ( 20 cm X 15 cm )

Spice Paste (Crush in a pestle and mortar or food processor):
2 Shallots
3 Cloves garlic
A 3cm piece of fresh turmeric
A 3cm  piece of fresh galangal
A 2cm piece of fresh Ginger
A 4cm piece of fresh kencur (leave out if not available)
2 small red chillies
1 big red chilli
½ tsp corriander seed
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp sesame seeds
¼ tsp nutmeg powder
1 candlenut
½ tsp terasi (shrimp paste)
salt (to taste)

Method:
1. Mix the ingredients and the spice paste including bay leaves and vegetable oil thoroughly.
2. Take 2 tbsp of mixture and then wrap it with banana leaves or tin foil. If using banana leaves, use a cocktail stick to keep them closed (as in the picture). Do this until the mixture is all used up.
3. Cook by steaming over a wok of boiling water or using a steamer until cooked through. You can also bake them in the oven at a medium temperature for 45 minutes.

Serve with rice  and sambal matah. Remember – don’t try to eat the banana leaves!

The post Simple Tum Babi Recipe (Balinese steamed pork) appeared first on Wil and Wayan's Bali Kitchen.

There are hundreds of varieties of soto ayam but the Madura and Surabaya styles are the most famous.

This simple soto recipe will give you the full flavour of the dish but is quick to make.

Ingredients: (Serves 6)
1kg Chicken (breast or drum sticks)
4 lime kaffir leaves
2 bay leaves
2 lemongrass stalks (crushed)
3 tsp vegetable oil
100g rice noodle (2 small packets)
4 boiled egg halved
3 potatoes peeled and cubed
1 litre of hot water blended with veg or chicken stock

For the garnish:
Celery leaves
Fried onions
1 lime or lemon quarter

Spice Paste:
2 shallots
4 cloves garlic
5 cm ginger
5 cm fresh turmeric
5 cm galangal
1 candlenut
Salt and pepper to taste

Sambal:
3 small red chillies
2 big chillies

Method:
1. Cut the chicken into manageable portions (cut at joints or dice breast)
2. Use a pestle and mortar or a food processor to blend the paste.
3. Heat 3 tsp vegetable oil in a pan and add the paste, the chicken, lime kaffir leaves, bay leaves and lemongrass. Stir until fragrant, and then add the water. Continue to cook until the meat is tender.
4. Add the potatoes and cook for 10 minutes until softened.

For the sambal, boil the chilli until cooked and use a pestle and mortar or food processor to grind until smooth.

For the rice noodles, put into hot water for 5 minutes or cook following packaging directions.

How to serve:
In the serving bowl, place the rice noodle, a ladle of the soto ayam and halved boiled egg. Garnish with celery leaves, fried onion, little bit of sambal and squeeze of lemon or lime.

Serve with a separate bowl of steamed rice or put a cupful of steamed rice into the soup if you want to have it roadside street-vendor style.

The post Quick and easy soto ayam recipe appeared first on Wil and Wayan's Bali Kitchen.

The best sate I’ve ever had was in Kayumas jalan Surapati Denpasar. Because the flavour of sate is really sweet and spicy. If you’re in Bali you can try for yourself. The sate stall is underneath the tree next door to the Banjar (around puputan Badung) in Kayumas, Denpasar.

This sate babi recipe serves 6 people and if you like it spicy you can add more chilli. For a real Balinese flavour barbecue outdoors.

Ingredients:
500 gr pork
2 tbsp veg oil

Spice paste:
3 cloves garlic
2 shallots
2 big chillies
2 candlenuts (toasted until brown)
½ tsp shrimp paste
A 3cm piece of galangal
A 3cm piece of kencur
A 2cm piece of ginger
1 tsp corriander seeds (toasted until brown)
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 tbsp palm sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Others:
Enough bamboo skewers for all your sate.

Method:
1. Cut the meat into thin 3 cm squares. Mix the ingredients with the paste then cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
2. Thread 3 pieces of meat onto each skewer until the meat is all used.
3. Preheat the grill, griddle or barbeque and cook the meat on it. Turning regularly until the meat is cooked through. Don’t worry if the ends get a little burnt. That’s the way it comes in Bali.
Serve with rice and sayur urab.

The post Simple Balinese sate Babi recipe appeared first on Wil and Wayan's Bali Kitchen.

Ingredients:

2 shallots( finely chopped)
2 chillies(finely chopped)
2 lemongrass ( finely chopped)
½ tsp shrimp paste ( grill into the oven for 3 minutes)
4 tbsp veg oil
a squeeze of lime juice
salt to taste

Method:

Chop all the ingredients finely. Mix together with oil.

How to eat:

Take a little of the sambal with each mouthful of meat or rice you eat. It goes really well with ikan bakar or sate lilit.

The post Really quick Balinese sambal matah recipe appeared first on Wil and Wayan's Bali Kitchen.

Sate lilit holds a special place in my heart. It’s one of the things we cook most often in Bali for parties with friends. Sitting around a small barbecue with a cold beer and some good friends grilling sate is always a recipe for a great evening.

Sate lilit is different from other types of sate in that it’s made as a paste and stuck around a stick rather than skewered as whole chunks of meat like you would usually expect of sate. The skewers are usually made of the soft middle section of a coconut palm leaf cut into thick sticks however as they are rather hard to come by elsewhere, it’s fine to use bamboo skewers or even cook it as small balls without skewers.

You can make sate lilit from pork or chicken but this recipe uses seafood which is also very common in Bali. Sate lilit is commonly made from tuna but any oily fish will work fine and we’ve found the mixture below to be the most reliable for us.

Ingredients
350 gr mackerel
150 gr prawns
70 gr fresh grated coconut (or 50g dessicated coconut put in ½ cup of water and microwaved for 3 minutes)
2 tbsp veg oil
2 kaffir lime leaves (chopped finely)
Skewer

Spice paste (Crush in a pestle and mortar)
2 shallots
4 cloves garlic
1 candlenut
1 big chilli
1 tsp corriander seeds
3 cm fresh tumeric
2 cm galangal
½ tsp shrimp paste
1 tsp palm sugar
salt and pepper

Method
Put the mackerel and prawns in the food processor and process until smooth.
Mix the ingredients (including the oil) and the spice paste thoroughly.
Take a little handful of sate mixture and squeeze onto the end of a skewer so it completely covers the tip and comes about an inch and a half down the skewer (see picture). If you want to add a fancy restaurant touch, use a stick of lemongrass instead of a skewer. Repeat the process until the mixture is finished.
Preheat the grill, griddle or barbeque and cook the meat on it. Turning regularly until the meat cooked through.
Serve with sambal matah, rice, vegetables and a cold beer! This goes particularly well with sayur urab.

The post Wayan’s easy Balinese sate lilit seafood recipe appeared first on Wil and Wayan's Bali Kitchen.

Along with lawar and sayur urab, bé balung is a staple food for Balinese ceremonies. It’s possible to make balung with other meat or vegetables but this Balung recipe using pork and young jackfruit is the most common and a real Balinese classic.

Balung needs to be cooked for a really long time for the meat to become tender and the young jackfruit to soak up the flavour of the spice paste. In Bali, people often cook balung for days in the embers of a fire. Cooking for a long time over a low heat on the hob or using a slow cooker works well, too.

Ingredients (serves 6 people):
500 gr pork belly (diced into 2cm cubes)
2 tins of jackfruit (or 1 kilo of fresh young jackfruit)
3 bay leaves
1 stalk of lemongrass (crushed)
4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
11/2 litres of water
1 cube of vegetable stock

Spice paste (grind in a pestle and mortar or blend in a food processor):
2 shallots
4 cloves of garlic
2 large red chillis
A 2cm piece of ginger
A 4cm piece of galangal
A 4cm piece of fresh tumeric
A 5cm piece of kencur (white ginger or lesser galangal)
1/2tsb corriander seeds
1/2tsb cumin powder
1 candlenut (if available)
1/4tsb of nutmeg powder
1/4tsb sesame seeds
1tsb shrimp paste
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Mix the pork with the spice paste, jackfruit, bay leaves, lemongrass and vegetable oil until the spice paste is evenly distributed
Heat 1 1/2 litres of water and add the vegetable stock then add the other ingredients and simmer until the meat is cooked. This dish will taste better the longer you cook it for – aim for a minimum of 2 hours.
Remove from the heat and serve with rice.

The post Bé Balung – Pork and jackfruit soup recipe appeared first on Wil and Wayan's Bali Kitchen.