Recipes
Balinese recipes from the Petulu kitchen
Home versions of what you cook in the Petulu class with Chef Wayan. The technique is the kitchen’s.
Sambal matah
Bali’s raw sambal: paper-thin shallot, lemongrass, lime leaf, and chili, dressed with hot coconut oil. Make it the day you eat it, beside grilled fish and sate.
Base genep
Bali’s base spice paste, also called bumbu Bali: shallot, garlic, galangal, turmeric, ginger, kencur, and candlenut, pounded, then fried to season the whole meal.
Sate lilit
Balinese minced satay: fish or chicken worked with base genep and coconut, pressed onto lemongrass stalks, then grilled.
Pepes ikan
Balinese fish in banana leaf: base genep, tomato, chili, and basil, folded into a parcel and steamed or grilled so the fish cooks in its own juices.
Sayur urap
Balinese coconut vegetables: blanched long beans, spinach, cabbage, and sprouts folded through spiced grated coconut. Fits a regular or plant-based plate.
Nasi kuning
Balinese yellow rice: steamed with turmeric, lemongrass, lime leaf, and coconut milk. The base of a festive plate, never fried.
Dadar gulung
Balinese green crepes: pandan pancakes rolled around grated coconut cooked in palm sugar. Soft enough to bend, sweet without turning to syrup.
Tempe manis
Sweet glazed tempeh: crisp strips tossed with shallot, chili, palm sugar, and sweet soy. It belongs on the regular and the plant-based table.
Pergedel jagung
Balinese corn fritters: whole kernels bound with egg and a little flour, seasoned with fried base genep, then shallow-fried.
Kare ayam
Balinese chicken curry: bone-in thigh simmered in fried base genep and coconut milk. Lemongrass and lime leaf, not a jar of curry powder.
Sup jamur
Balinese mushroom soup: oyster or straw mushrooms in a light broth of fried base genep, lemongrass, and lime leaf. Cook it the day the mushrooms are bought.
Nasi goreng
Balinese fried rice: cold steamed rice, fried base genep, sweet soy, and lime leaf in a hot wok. Not the same dish as nasi kuning.
Lawar
Cooked Balinese lawar: minced chicken or young jackfruit with fried base genep, grated coconut, and fried shallot. No raw meat and no blood.
Ayam betutu
Balinese whole chicken rubbed in fried base genep, wrapped in banana leaf, and steamed or baked for about 3 hours until a leg joint gives. A slow home cook.
Tipat
Balinese compressed rice: soaked rice packed into woven coconut-leaf pouches and steamed until it sets. The same idea as ketupat; the long steam is a home job.
Sambal embe
Balinese fried shallot sambal: shallot cooked gold in coconut oil, then chili and salt. Unlike raw sambal matah, it keeps past lunch.
Jukut urab
Paste-forward Balinese vegetables: blanched greens tossed with grated coconut and fried base genep. Deeper than the lighter sayur urap.
Jackfruit sate lilit
A vegan sate lilit for home: young jackfruit, coconut, and fried base genep without shrimp paste, pressed onto lemongrass and grilled.
Klepon
The green rice balls from the Ubud morning market: pandan dough around palm sugar that melts as it boils, rolled in grated coconut. The class sweet is dadar gulung.
Peanut sauce for sate
Bumbu kacang, peanut sauce as it is made in Bali: fried peanuts ground on a stone mortar with chili, garlic, and shallot, then simmered with palm sugar.
Learn these by hand in Bali
- The morning market cooking class, step by stepWhat happens in the 8:30am Balinese cooking class in Petulu, Ubud: the morning market, a rice-field walk, two hours at the stove, and lunch by 12:30pm.
- Learn to make dadar gulung in BaliWhat your hands do when you make dadar gulung in a Balinese kitchen: swirl the pandan batter thin, cook coconut in palm sugar, then roll it tight.
- Balinese dishes worth learning by handFive Balinese dishes that are easier to learn at a stone mortar or a pan than from a page, and three that are better cooked slowly at home.
- Cooking with a Balinese stone mortarThe flat stone mortar on every Balinese kitchen table: why cooks still grind by hand, how to use one without spraying chili, and what a blender misses.
- Balinese ingredients and what to use insteadKencur, candlenut, salam leaf, palm sugar, and shrimp paste: what each one does in Balinese cooking, and the closest swap when your shop does not stock it.
- What you collect at the Ubud morning market before you cookThe Balinese roots, leaves, and chilies you buy at the Ubud morning market with Chef Wayan, and how each one becomes a dish at the Petulu stove.
- A cooking kitchen that looks onto Petulu rice fieldsWarung Tumang Bali in Banjar Laplapan, Petulu: an open kitchen above working paddies, a short village walk from the market, calm enough that the stove is the loudest sound.
- What authentic means in this Balinese home kitchenAuthentic here is a named chef, a stone mortar, a warung kitchen in Petulu that looks onto rice fields, and a meal you cook yourself — not a hotel demo.
- Learn to make sambal matah in BaliWhat your hands learn when you make sambal matah in a Balinese kitchen: paper-thin shallot and chili, hot coconut oil, and a bowl that stays raw.
- Learn to make sate lilit in BaliWhat your hands learn when you press sate lilit onto lemongrass: sticky mince, a tight wrap, and charcoal that marks the outside without drying the middle.
- A Balinese cooking class beside working rice terracesWhy book the Petulu class if you want rice terraces with the meal: walk the paddies, cook in an open kitchen with the fields in view, eat what you made — about 10 minutes from Ubud.
- A family cooking class in BaliA family cooking class in Bali at Warung Tumang Bali, Petulu, Ubud: children cook and eat with you. They pay IDR 450.000, the same as adults, and count toward eight seats.
- Private vs shared cooking class in BaliPrivate vs shared cooking class in Bali at Warung Tumang Bali, Petulu. Shared IDR 450.000 per guest, max eight. Private kitchen IDR 700.000 for your group — not a second per-person fee.
- A vegetarian cooking class in BaliA vegetarian cooking class in Bali at Warung Tumang Bali, Petulu: full plant board, shrimp paste out. Shared IDR 450.000. Vegan on request. Same stove as the meat day.
- A small group cooking class in BaliSmall group cooking class in Bali at Warung Tumang Bali, Petulu: max eight guests, everyone cooks. Shared IDR 450.000. Private kitchen IDR 700.000 once per booking.
- The chilies at the Ubud morning market, then sambalLong red and green chilies in a market basket are what the 8:30am class buys, then slices into sambal matah in Petulu. IDR 450.000 per guest. The afternoon skips the market.