Food porn

My Balinese cookery class was just the tonic for my final day. It started in the market where my small and bespoke group – just three of us – learnt about the different spices and foods on sale first. There was a wonderful Canadian woman in her mid 50s and a Swiss/German woman, who took some warming up around my age.

Our teacher was a lovely enthusiastic cook who ironically was more interested in why I was not married and still childless at 38. He told me to get a move on – ha!

I stopped at one stall to taste a rather interesting looking drink. It’s made from a green leaf which is squished and then coconut mile and sugar is added. It has the consistency of phlegm and is quite difficult to keep down, but I did my best. When in Rome right?

The market is full of women, flies and all sorts of smells. I like the grittiness of it mixed with the sweet fragrance of incense and fresh flowers. Balinese people make daily offerings to the gods in return for blessings.

We learnt the basic spice base Bumi Bali. It is a fiery sauce of chillies, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, coriander seeds, lesser and greater galangal which you blitz in a blender and throw into every dish.

The chillies here are HOT. But I have almost become addicted to the burn, there is something quite satisfying about the heat of the chilly and the sweetness of the tempeh and tofu dishes. Did I mention it was a veggie course. Don’t switch off! Asian food has to be one of the most interesting types of cuisine for veggies. I’m so inspired. Here are some pictures of the stir fry tempeh curry and steamed tofu with egg and then banana fritters with a rice wine punch that looks radioactive and tastes of Vimto.

My food journey through SE Asian has been mind blowing and I literally cannot wait to try these dishes out at home and experiment!