"Jukut Antugan" or Assorted Vegetables

Beside of the renowned delicacy serombotan (bean sprout, water spinach, long bean, crispy beans with hot spice) that can be easily found at traditional markets, the Balinese still have another kind of assorted vegetables. This one uses stir-fry sauce and makes up assorted bean and the like.

Ingredients:
1 string of long bean, 1 string of winged bean, white pea, spinach

Sauce:
(a) 1 tbsp fried shallot, ½ tbsp fried garlic, ½ tsp chili sambal;
(b) ½ tsp salt, 2 tbsp sweet sauce, 1/5 pc coconut (grated), 2 cloves garlic, 2 cm kencur, 6 small green chili, ½ tsp pepper, ½ tsp coriander, 1 stalk lemongrass (thinly sliced), 1 pc large red chili, 1 pc salam leaf, salt (to taste) ; ½ pc kaffir lime.

Method:

1. All sauce ingredients (b) are cleansed thoroughly and then finely ground.
2. Stir-fry this sauce until fragrant and then take it out.
3. Boil the assorted vegetables till cooked or to taste, probably you like it a bit crispy, e.g. long bean and winged bean.
4. Strain and press the vegetables. Now, please mix well the vegetables, sauce (a, b) and kaffir lime. It’s ready to serve. (BTN/029)
   

Rendezvous of Food and Carving Artistry

Where do the art of carving and the food have a "rendezvous"? Its answer must be on a dining table. Of course, food sometimes is presented with fruit carvings to give a garnish or the nuance of artistic decoration. It is not only meant to generate the appetite, but also pamper the mind with ‘a savory art’, as the tongue needs to savor food, in the same manner, the mind also requires its own nourishment. When both come together and feel satisfied it means the food gives really an unforgettable moment of eating.
Such carvings can be made from the ‘neighbour’ of fruits or vegetables such as melon, watermelon, carrot, cucumber and so forth. At the hand of creative kitchen artist, these fruit can become a magnificent carving. This art, combining food styling and carving artistry, can come in a good medium of tourism promotion to draw the culinary adventurers. (BTN/029)

Hygienic Balinese Traditional Food

Balinese traditional food is no more only provided for the family and a necessity related to religious, customary and Balinese cultural needs. In keeping with the rapid growth of Bali as premier tourist destination, this kind of food is widely produced and sold at several restaurants up to five-star hotels. As supporting component of the tourism industry, quality and safety of the food are crucial factors that needs serious attention.
According to the Dean of Faculty of Agriculture Udayana University, Prof. Dr. Ir. Nyoman Sucipta, MP, hygienic food is the food which is fresh, clean and free from dirt, either micro-organism or organic elements harming the health. For instance, vegetables can be considered fresh if it is firmly green, containing no pockmarks on the leaf, no worm or other micro-organism. There are several methods to process the food to comply with the hygienic requirements like by cleansing, heating or cleansing by means of antibacterial agent in particular dosage.
According to Secretary of Bali Tourism Board (BTB), Ir. Tjok Artha Ardhana, the mouth-watering traditional food of Bali such as lawar, roasted pig, steamed duck, twisted satay and assorted fresh cakes is sometimes less liked by guests because they are afraid it will be too spicy. To respond this, we should find out a new breakthrough namely by making innovative recipes without removing the distinctiveness of such food. He also added that knowledge of the cooks should be improved to better introduce the Balinese traditional food to tourists. Balinese food should become like the food of Thailand, promoting people to visit us and try the real food.
Furthermore, he emphasized that to attract the interest of consumers, particularly tourists to the traditional food of Bali, several strides should be noticed. Other than flavour, appearance was also a momentous aspect that needs considering. It was revealed on the training on sanitation and hygiene in the production of traditional food in Denpasar not long ago. The training taking place for two days (28-29/7) aimed at delivering additional knowledge to cooks on food sanitation and hygiene and attended by tens of participants from both hotels and food processing unit. (BTN/Rai)