Good morning Vietnam

My advice when travelling?

Go into the weird looking alleyways, because you never know what you will find.

One of the top meals I ever had

the first time I went!

For only 20 000 Dong = 1$, you get a bed of rice noodles, chunks of fatty sweet marinated pork, bean sprouts, carrot, cucumber, green onion, peanuts, lettuce and a sweet soy / fish/ vinegar sauce... and chili of course.

Best part of all, eating on mini child size plastic chairs, which find themselves all over the country, at EVERY street stall.

Thats the menu on the table, 

5 choices, 

take it or leave it.

Ho Chi Minh,
Vietnam

My finale of Indonesia

A little sneaky peak of my footage!


Go to Youtube for better quality: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMuEaH05SzA

Best pancake I ever ate

These guys show up every night with this mini booth and a bucket of pancake batter. When thats all out, they are finished for the night. 

They pour it into these heavy deep dish iron skillets, and cover it till its cooked. After, they transfer it to the cutting board and drench it in evaporated milk, and whatever toppings you order.

I went for ALL dressed!

Includes:

Banana, shredded cheese, chocolate, and peanuts.

They fold it over, cut it in 4 triangles and give it to go in a pretty little take out box.

I usually finish everything, but this is certainly a dessert for 2!

mmmmm....  

Gado gado

During my stay in Ubud, I could go to no restaurant but Dewa Warung.

Surprisingly recommended by the Lonely Planet, and another fellow traveler.

It was a picnic bench, easy to meet people, tiny little joint with healthy choices such as tumeric juice to scrumptious desserts like banana chocolate pie.

This is Gado gado, the must get if your a peanut lover.

Basically a salad (bok choy, sprouts,carrots, spinach and cabbage) with peanut sauce and deep fried shrimp crackers on top. We ordered added chicken on top with a side of rice.

Perfect.

This is us super excited to eat!

Not sure what to get? Go with fried noodles... always a safe and an insanely amazing bet. Full of hearty egg noodles, crunchy vegetables, exploding spices, chicken, and a fried thick egg on top.

Dewa Warung

Ubud, Bali

Black glutinous rice pudding

So, the translation for this recipe was a bit broken, but heres my best:

Soak 85% black glutinous rice to 15% white sticky glutinous rice overnight in water.
1 cup total rice to 1 cup water.
The next day,
bring rice + more added water + 2 pand leaves and simmer for around 1 hour (mix in between), with 2 tsp sugar, 1/4 palm sugar and 1 tsp salt.

Cook rice till al dente
add some fresh coconut milk to serve.

Cooking class

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Success!!

Corn fritters and chicken sate

Chicken sate, corn fritters and sweet tempeh stir fry (previous post)

Corn Fritters

Ingredients
2 cups raw corn, mashed
1.5 cup boiled grated white potato
1 TBSP fried onions
2 TBSP minced garlic
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup shredded fresh coconut (sub: dry unsweetened)
1/4 cup cornstarch, sifted
1 egg
1 TBSP celery leaves chopped fine

2 cups deep frying oil (we used coconut oil

Directions
Mix all ingredients, and plop a tablespoon amount into oil/in wok, and flatten a bit as it cooks. Turn it over when bottom becomes brown. Make sure both sides are golden, then remove.

corn and potato

fresh coconut!

Chicken sate

Ingredients
3 golf ball sizes of ground chicken
1 tsp palm sugar (substitute: brown sugar)
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 cube chicken stock (1/4 tsp ish)
1/2 cup shredded fresh coconut (substitute: dry unsweetened)
1 tsp fried onions
2 TBSP balinese mix/sauce (in previous post)
1.5 tsp salt and pepper

Directions
Mix, mash, and oil hands to help form nice balls then press onto popsicle stick for grilling. Grill on both sides till firm to touch / cooked.

Making skewers

Cooking class

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Balinese Soup

Ingredients

Balls:

3 golf ball sizes of ground tuna

1 tsp palm sugar (substitute: brown sugar)

1 tsp lime juice

1/2 cube chicken stock (1/4 tsp ish)

1/2 cup shredded fresh coconut (substitute dry unsweetened)

1 tsp fried onions

2 TBSP balinese mix/sauce (in previous post) 

1.5 tsp salt and pepper

1 TBSP chopped celery leaves

Stock:

2 L chicken stock

1 TBSP garlic

2 TBSP balinese mix

2 chunks lemon grass

1/4 cup celery leaves unchopped

1 tsp white pepper and salt

1 TBSP fried crispy onions

Add any veggies or chili if desired

Directions

Make balls with ingredients posted above. 

Then easy peasy! Just throw them into a pot with all the stock ingredients and boil 15 minutes. In the last 2 minutes, add in pre-soaked in cold water, any kind of rice noodles. 

Note: soak rice noodles in cold water for 30 minutes, or till soft. 

Cooking class

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Sweet soya tempeh stir fry

Ingredients
-makes 3 portions

1/2 cup coconut oil (or veg oil)
1 lb tempeh, cut in strips, like in photo
1 heaping TBSP balinese sauce (previous post)
1 TBSP butter
1 handful chopped celery leaves
1/4 cupish of the following veggies: (or observe photo above)
-tomato
-white onion
-lemon grass (extremely thinly sliced)
-green pepper
1 big red chili
1 tsp chili ketchup
1 TBSP oyster sauce
1 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP fish sauce
2 TBSP sweet soya sauce (has much thicker texture then regular soya sauce)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat 1/2cup coconut oil in wok and fry up tempeh till nice and brown (around 15 minutes).
Drain and clean wok, and add butter, salt and pepper and stir for 2 minutes. Then add vegetables till cooked. Add sauces and paste, then stir in tempeh and sweet soya sauce.

Cooking class

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Balinese Paste... the key Ingredient

Mash mash mash away!
This comes from the family of curry pastes. Just like thai or indian curry paste, this falls in the same boat. The only difference is that the paste is sauteed in a pan after mashed.

Left to right: Shallots, white and black pepper corns, thumbs of everything, chili, garlic, and cube of shrimp paste

Ingredients

Finely chop all ingredients:

1 thumb tumeric
1 thumb galangal
1 small thumb white tumeric
1 head of garlic
1 thumb ginger
1 tsp shrimp paste
1/4 cup macadamia nuts
1 TBSP black pepper
1 TBSP white pepper
3 small green chili peppers (depends on how much heat you like!)
1 large red chili pepper
2 shallots

Directions

Mash all ingredients till becomes a paste.
Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in pan and saute the mashed mix of ingredients for 10 minutes. Done!

*Tip: Freeze in ice cube tray and use portions when needed.

Nasi Goreng

Nasi Goreng means "fried rice", but like in french, wording in reverse, making 'nasi' rice. 

This is the safe dish to get when your in a street stall and all other options look scary, or that they might kill you. 

Ingredients for 6 portions

1 TBSP cooking oil
1 TBSP butter
2 TBSP minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup any protein cubed (chicken, tofu, tempeh, etc)
2 eggs
3 cups bok choy
1 carrot (we made it cut in strips)
1/2 cup celery leaves
1 big red chili
1.5 cups white cabbage
5 cups cooked rice (better to use old rice)
1 handful of crispy onions
2 TBSP chili ketchup
2 TBSP oyster sauce
1 TBSP soya sauce
1 TBSP fish sauce

Directions

In a large wok, heat oil and butter, salt and pepper. Add your meat. When just cooked, add eggs, and break up/fry it up. Then add veggies. When cooked, add garlic, sauces, and rice, stir fry another 5 minutes to caramelize a bit. Then at the end, throw in the handful of crispy shallots (and use some for presentation on top). 

Enjoy!

Cooking class

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Now for some Balinese cuisine

Ingredients

The funky white brick in the middle is tempeh, above that is fresh coconut, and to the right is brown palm sugar...and the rest I assume you can guess!

soya sauce, ABC oyster sauce, fish sauce "oyster" brand, Bahagia chili ketchup, and a nice purple block of nasty fish paste

Making "crispy onions, which is basically deep frying thinly sliced shallots till brown. 

1 cup oil to 1 cup of shallots

We used coconut oil, but you can use vegetable oil

All recipes will follow this post

Antoine's village day 2

After following Antoine by motorbike in the pouring muddy rain, we stopped at his friends hut, to collect a massive sac of locally grown potatoes. 

We sat under his delicate palm leaf roof with about 8 children, grandma, several ducks, chicks and chickens, hoping the rain would stop...

but never did.

Was it worth it?

yes.

Also worth being stuck under a hut with adorable little children.

My first time trying this kind of potato. 

Dense, satisfying, starchy, with a hint of sweetness. It's of the breed of 'camote' (sweet potato), but not the orange inside kind, and was teardrop shaped. 

Coffee + snacks = happiness

This is Ginataang Bilo Bilo

Colour comes from the purple yam, which is in a coconut mildly sweet sauce, with cassava and sago (tapioca pearls). 

I'd say nice and mild. 

Happy me

Bright and early for market time

Ubud morning market, Bali

Chili, shallots, tumeric, ginger, and more! - Ubud Bali

Lombok Market

Making offerings, Ubud Bali