Balinese Cooking Class

Today I am attending a Balinese cooking class held at the Nirwana Pan Pacific Resort Bali. Cooking classes are one of my favourite activities when I travel. Learning to cook the regional food means I can enjoy the flavours from the holiday even after we have returned home. Another big selling point for me is the opportunity to feast on a banquet of local food once the class has finished.

Balinese Three Course Cooking Class Menu

Best of all, by doing these Balinese cooking classes I have amassed a collection of little recipe booklets which include the host chefs recipes.

You will find a number of recipes on my website from previous Balinese cooking classes. Take a look at these Balinese Corn Fritters I made after the Anika Cooking School in Kuta.

The Nirwana Pan Pacific Bali hosts cooking classes every second day. Each Balinese cooking class consists of three dishes, we were cooking the following dishes;

Gado Gado
Nasi Goreng
Dadar Gulung

Arriving at Balinese Cooking Class we found 8 tables set up with cooking equipment, ingredients and thankfully, a large umbrella. The heat and humidity was stifling! I had been looking forward to working in an air conditioned kitchen, but this was more scenic.

This particular lesson was intended be a family affair. Anais was first to don an apron and quickly edged her dad away from the bench. Lachlan decided the best strategy was to disappear in the pool until the food preparation was complete. This left me to jostle Anais for a spot at the frying pan in between photographing proceedings.

Balinese Cooking Class

Gado Gado

Our chef gave us direction on how to start the peanut sauce for the Gado Gado.

We were instructed on the technique for grinding the peanuts and spices in the mortar and pestle and before too long we had a delicious paste.

It was then just a matter of thinning the sauce with water and lime juice and stirring through the steamed, cooled vegetables.

Anais did a great job garnishing the plates with a slice of boiled egg, fried shallots and crackers. I never imagined this dish would be so easy to prepare.

Nasi Goreng

No Balinese meal is complete without the inclusion of Nasi Goreng. Anais was quick to take over frying the chicken, vegetables and spices.

It may look like I am engaging in slave labour, but by this time Anais had already told the boys this was her cooking class. The only chance they had of enjoying a meal was to let her be the cook.

Once the chicken and vegetables had been cooked it was just a matter of adding the cooked rice and sauces to the pan. We stirred the ingredients together until the rices was coated in the sauces.

To serve the rice was placed in a small bowl and pressed firmly. The Nasi Goreng was then turned out onto a banana leaf. All that was left was to fry the egg and garnish the dish.

As if they had been called the boys appeared out of no where. Not even a bite had been taken before they were seated at the table ready to devour the dish.

Dadar Gulung

Time for dessert! On the menu was an Indonesian Pandan Pancakes with a sweet coconut filling. I had never tried this dish before so I was very excited about tasting it for the first time. It was so delicious! I know I will be making it again very soon so I have decided I will share the recipe with readers in my next story.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the Balinese cooking class. The chefs were really helpful and the food was fantastic. Although the Balinese cooking class was designed to serve two people a three course meal, we found there was more than enough food for our family of four.