Balinese Ingredients, Preparing Rice. etc

Balinese food uses a number of ingredients already familiar to lovers of other Asian cuisine. These and other less familiar seasonings are described for easy identification, and a range of substitutes suggested. Names given in italics are Balinese or Indonesian...

Preparing Rice
Steamed or boiled rice, the staple food in Bali, is the centerpiece of every main meal. Leftover rice is often transformed and reappears as Nasi Goreng, fried with various savory ingredients. In addition, various types of rice are used in desserts and cakes, either while or ground into...

Cooking Methods
Balinese cooking methods are similar to those employed in any other Asian or Western kitchen, although there are differences that should be noted.Blanching is often used for vegetables, as well as for bones to make stock. To blanch vegetables, bring a large amount of water with 2 teaspoons of salt to every 4 cups of liquid to a rapid ...

Basic Equipment
Preparing Balinese food abroad does not require an excess of complex equipment, and with the increasing popularity of Asian cuisines around the world, basic ingredients are generally easy to obtain...

The Balinese Kitchen
Despite the complex blending of spices and fragrant foots that gives Balinese food its intriguingly different flavor, the typical Balinese kitchen is remarkably simple. The centerpiece of the kitchen-generally a spartan, functional room is the wood-fired stove topped by a blackened clay pot used to steam rice and leaf-wrapped food. In many modern...

Snacking as a Way of Life
Although they eat meals only twice a day, the Balinese are always snacking. Women rush from the family compound into the street the minute a passing food vendor twangs the metal chime on his puscart; men stop off at their local warung shop for a coffee on the way home from the paddy fields, while school children cannot resist crisp fried crackers...

Feasting the Ancestral Spirits
Galungan, one of the most important festivals in the Balinese calendar, is a time when the spirits of ancestors return to earth to live with the family. The spirits are said to descend five days before the festival begins and to return to heaven den days thereafter. Women begin preparing a month before the festival, weaving intricate decorations from coconut...

Lavish Gifts for the Gods
Food in Bali is literally deemed fit for the gods. Every day of the year, the spirits whose shrines occupy the forecourt of every Balinese family compound are presented with offerings of flowers, food, holy water and incense. The offerings server to honor the spirits and ensure that they safeguard the health and prosperity of the family. Even malicious spirits are pacified...

Daily Life in Bali
The rhythm of the day in a typical Balinese family compound is ruled by the rice harvest, governed by tradition and watched over by the gods. Several generations usually live together in the compound, which is laid out in accordance with esoteric Balinese principles and surrounded by a mud of brick wall. The holiest part of the land (that which faces the...

Rice, the Gift of Dewi Sri
Terraced rice fields climb the slopes of Bali's most holy mountai, Gunung Agung, like steps to heaven. When tender seedlings are first transplanted, they are slender spikes of green, mirrored in the silver waters of the irrigated fields. Within a couple of months, the fields become solid sheets of emerald, which turn slowly to rich gold as the grains ripen. Although irrigated rice...

Garden of the Gods
Bali's landscape is characterized by abundance: thousands of verdant rice fields, graceful coconut palms and a myriad of tropical fruit trees, coffee plantations and even vineyards make up the cultivated areas. On the slopes of the mountains, lush tangles of vines and creepers...

Food in Bali
The extravagant beauty of Bali and its vibrant culture first captured the imagination of the world in the 1930s when it was visited by a few adventurous Dutch colonists, artists and the international jet set (who in those days actually traveled by ship). Since the arrival of mass...

Brief History of Bali
The Balinese people, descendants of a prehistoric race who migrated through mainland Asia to the Indonesian archipelago, have been influenced by a series of rich and highly developed civilizations. Yet, to this day, they retain their own total individuality, having absorbed and adapted those parts of each dominating civilization, which suit their own spiritual...

The exorcism of evil
Ceremonies for the removal of pacification of evil spirits, Bhuta Yadnya, play an important part in the Balinese spectrum of ritual. A great island-wide exorcism takes place on the eve of the Balinese Saka (lunar) year, the new moon of the ninth month, known as Tilem Kesanga...

The Performing Arts
Religious ceremonies in Bali inevitably involve music and dancing as an offering designed to please the deities attending the ceremony. Needless to say, besides its sacral purpose, each performance is avidly enjoyed by the villagers. With the advent of tourism the performing arts have taken on a new role, and there has been somewhat of a revival as a result....

Subak Organization
Groups of farmers with a common water supply feeding their rice fields are members of the same cooperative 'subak'. During the dry season, which usually falls between April and September, the farmers rely on irrigation. The rugged landscape, with its steep hillsides and deep valleys, poses problems in water...

Cycles of Rice Cultivation
Traditions in the practice of rice farming vary subtly from one village to another, but the basic cycles of planting, cultivation and harvest, along with their constant element of prayer and offering, are very similar. At the very first hoeing of the fields, 'ngendang', or the "opening up", which takes place after approximately 25 days...

A Brief History of Sanoer
It is in Blanjong Temple in Sanur that one finds the oldest edict in Bali carved in stone and dated 914 AD. Built on the delta created by the soil and sand carried down to the Badung Straits by the mighty Ayung River, this edict proves that Sanur was an important trading post at a very early date. Famed as one of the few theocratic villages in Bali ruled by powerful Brahmana families, Sanur's reputation for magic and secret...

Reflections of the Universe
The philosophy which gives order to all things is a reflection of a divine order: the macrocosmos, or Bwana Agung, is reflected within the microcosmos, or Bwana Alit, and one can never be separated from the other. The universe is split into three levels; the dominion of the Gods, the dwelling place of mankind, and the underworld of evil spirits...

A Stratified Society
Balinese society is traditionally divided into different levels. The nobility of Bali consists of three upper castes. Brahmanas, the teachers and priests, bear the title of Ida Bagus for men and Ida Ayu for women. The Ksatriyas, known historically as the warrior class, are known as Dewa Agung or Cokorda, depending upon their individual family origins. The Wesya, the...

Reverence for The After-life
A most important area of Balinese ritual is that known as Pitra Yadnya, devoted to the veneration of the ancestors, which includes the all important funereal rites. Cremation for Balinese is the only means to ensure that the spirit may be released from its mortal remains so as to be reincarnated in another physical body. Reincarnation is a process...

Life-cycle Ceremonies
The life of a Balinese person is measured in a series of Manusa Yadnya, rituals, which commence before the baby is born and follow in stages up until marriage. These are generally held in the privacy of the family compound, but those who wish to witness this integral part of the Balinese culture should ask their travel agent, or the local Badung...