Balinese Food: What to Order and What Is in It

Balinese food is its own cuisine within Indonesia, built on pork, duck, chicken, seafood and vegetables, seasoned with a spice paste of chilies, shallots, garlic, ginger and turmeric. The dishes to try first are babi guling, the spit-roasted pig; bebek betutu, slow-cooked spiced duck; sate lilit, minced meat on lemongrass; and nasi campur, a plate of rice with a little of everything.

What makes Balinese food different

Balinese cooking differs from the food of the rest of Indonesia mainly in its use of pork. Bali is a Hindu island in a mostly Muslim country, and pork is central to its cuisine, while beef is rarely eaten because of Hindu tradition. Chicken, duck, seafood and vegetables fill out the table.

The spice paste

Most Balinese dishes begin with a spice paste, called base genep or basa gede. It combines garlic, shallots, red chilies, ginger, turmeric and palm sugar, and it usually contains shrimp paste. That last ingredient matters to anyone with a shellfish allergy, since it is ground into the base of a dish and cannot be seen.

Other building blocks

Coconut is everywhere, as grated flesh, as coconut milk and as oil. Peanuts appear in sauces. Chilies give most dishes some heat. Rice comes with nearly every meal. A diner who knows these five things, the paste, coconut, peanuts, chili and rice, can read most of a Balinese menu.

The dishes to order

A first-time visitor can cover the heart of Balinese cooking with a handful of dishes. None of them is hard to find. We name no restaurants and quote no prices; ask your accommodation where local people go for each one, since the best version of a dish is often at a place that makes little else.

Babi guling

Babi guling is spit-roasted suckling pig, stuffed with chili, turmeric, garlic and ginger before roasting. It is Bali's best-known dish. A serving typically comes as a plate of rice with slices of meat, crisp skin and several side preparations. It is a pork dish through and through.

Bebek betutu and ayam betutu

Betutu is duck or chicken rubbed heavily with spice paste, wrapped in leaves and cooked slowly until the meat falls apart. Bebek is duck and ayam is chicken. Because of the long cooking, some places ask for the dish to be ordered in advance, so ask when you book.

Sate lilit

Sate lilit is spiced minced meat pressed around a stick of lemongrass and grilled. It differs from the satay Americans may know, which is chunks of meat on a wooden skewer with peanut sauce. The mince can be pork, chicken or fish, so ask which if it matters to you.

Nasi campur

Nasi campur means mixed rice. It is a plate of rice with small portions of several things: meat or fish, tofu, tempeh, vegetables and a spoonful of sambal. The Balinese version is a good first meal, because it shows you a range of flavors on one plate.

What is in it: dishes to ask about

Some Balinese dishes contain ingredients a visitor would not guess. Lawar is the main example. It is a mix of finely chopped vegetables, such as young jackfruit, with grated coconut, minced meat and pork rind. The red version contains fresh pig's blood; the white version does not.

Lawar

Lawar often arrives as a side on a babi guling or nasi campur plate, without being ordered separately. Anyone who avoids blood, pork or raw ingredients should ask what the lawar is made of. The question is ordinary, and a cook will answer it without offense.

Sambal

Sambal is the chili relish served with most meals. Sambal matah is the Balinese kind: raw shallots, chili, lemongrass and lime in coconut oil. It is fresh and sharp, and it is hot. If you do not eat spicy food, "tidak pedas" means not spicy, and it is worth saying when you order.

Urutan and other pork

Urutan is a Balinese pork sausage. Pork also turns up as rind in vegetable dishes and as stock. Travelers who do not eat pork should say "Saya tidak makan babi", I do not eat pork, and should not assume that a vegetable dish is free of it.

Vegetables, sweets and drinks

Balinese cooking has plenty beyond meat. Jukut urab is a dish of vegetables tossed with grated coconut and spices. Tofu and tempeh, both made from soybeans, are everyday foods across Indonesia and appear on most rice plates. Vegetarians eat well in Bali, with one caution about the spice paste.

The vegetarian caution

A dish with no visible meat may still be built on a paste containing shrimp paste, or cooked in a meat stock. A strict vegetarian or vegan should ask. "Saya vegetarian" is understood, and "tanpa" means without. Restaurants that cater to visitors are used to the question.

Sweets

Laklak are small rice-flour pancakes served with grated coconut and palm sugar syrup. Bubuh injin is a pudding of black sticky rice with coconut milk. Both are sold as snacks and breakfast, and both are sweet and mild after a spicy meal.

Drinks

Brem is a Balinese rice wine. Arak is a distilled spirit, and the State Department warns of drink poisoning in Indonesia from alcohol mixed with methanol. Our advice is to drink spirits only from a sealed, labeled bottle. Drink bottled water, and ask for no ice where you are unsure.

Eating safely

The CDC's advice for travelers in this part of the world is to eat food that is cooked and served hot, to avoid food that has been sitting out on a buffet, and to wash hands often. The State Department says tap water in many areas of Indonesia is not safe to drink.

Where to eat

Small local eating houses, called warungs, are where much of this food is served. The CDC advises caution with street vendors and says the same food safety rules apply if you eat there. Our advice is to choose a busy place where food is cooked to order and arrives hot.

The bill

In Badung regency, which covers Seminyak, Canggu and Uluwatu, the local tax on restaurant food and drink is 10%, and a restaurant may add a service charge. A simple local eating house may include everything in the listed price; look for a line at the foot of the menu.