Bali | Local Guide

10 Local Balinese Foods: From The Most Popular to The Rarest Must-Try Ones!

Hello FlokqAugust 31, 2021

Bali is not only famous for its amazingly beautiful scenery, but also for its local culinary delights that are always ready to shake the tongue. From betutu, babi guling, satay wrap, and others, you are certainly familiar with the names of these Balinese specialties. Some of these foods even have successful branches outside Bali because the taste is in accordance with the tastes of the wider community. Thus, to enhance your Balinese culinary experience, here is a list of 10 local Balinese foods that you should try!

1. Mujair Nyat Nyat

This local Balinese food is usually served with tilapia fish (mujair) cooked with Balinese spices, added with coconut milk, domine dean spices, and under white and kencur. You can find other fish variants besides mujair too. The Kintamani people themselves prefer fish that are cultivated in the Batur area because fish from Lake Batur have a distinctive taste and smell better.

2. Nasi Sela

One of the oldest local Balinese foods is Nasi Sela. At first, Nasi Sela was a mixture of white rice and chopped sweet potato in small pieces, but nowadays this Balinese food has been developed and mixed with rago (small shrimp), peanuts, jukut, sambal bongkot, and shredded pieces of chicken betutu. There is also nasi sela mixed with chicken betutu side dishes, chicken skin satay, pindang cob, long bean vegetable urab filled with cucumber and red beans, order celengis, sambal matah, and anchovy sauce to increase your appetite.

3. Tipat Blayag

Quite similar to gado-gado, tipat blayag is a Balinese dish consisting of nyat-nyat chicken broth (finely ground rice flour and seasoned with yellow Balinese spices) and ketupat made using palm leaves. Tipat blayag is also usually served with pieces of ketupat, vegetable bean sprouts and spinach (vegetable urap), a sprinkling of shredded chicken and fried peanuts or soybeans, and nyat-nyat chicken gravy. Some variants also add a hard-boiled egg and a sprinkling of fried onions and crispy-fried peyek to strengthen the taste.

4. Plecing Kangkung

In Bali, there are 2 variants of the most famous plecing kangkung, namely the Bali and Lombok variants. In general, plecing kangkung is a dish of boiled water spinach with spicy spices from chili sauce and other ingredients that have been mixed.

Plecing kangkung lombok consists of vegetables, chili sauce, and grated coconut and has been mixed with chili sauce. Kangkung from Lombok has wider leaves and vegetable stems that are crispier than other kale, and are not tough. Grated coconut which is processed savory and spicy as well as side dishes of chicken taliwang are also the main characteristics of plecing kangkung lombok. Meanwhile, the Balinese kale plecing only consists of kale, chili sauce, and peanuts. Plecing kangkung Bali does not use grated coconut and is more often served with betutu chicken.

5. Nasi Tepeng

This Gianyar specialty dish is cooked with a complete mixture of spices and pepper, complemented by long beans, Moringa leaves, red beans, eggplant, young jackfruit, grated coconut, eggs, and shredded fried chicken. Generally, this dish is made from rice and served with banana leaves as a container for breakfast. Because of its mushy texture and tend to be spicy, nasi tepeng is often similar to nasi uduk and is popular with spicy lovers.

6. Sate Susu

Before you confuse yourself thinking about how milk can be skewered, please note that this satay is actually a skewered cow’s nipple. This is one of the most unique local Balinese foods. Milk satay (sate susu) has a savory taste because it is processed with yellow spice sauce. The texture itself is soft and chewy. The nipples will be pre-boiled with spices before being cut into thin squares, and seasoned with shallots, garlic, large chilies, coriander, candlenut, turmeric, and tomatoes.

The seasoning consists of rice flour mixed with coconut milk, various spices, the other ingredients, a yellow spice and a little spicy. This satay is rarely found because it is a typical menu every month of Ramadan without a definite sales time.

7. Serombotan

Although at first glance it looks like urap or pecel, serrambotan is a typical Balinese food consisting of round eggplant, spinach, long beans, green beans, bitter melon, kale, and bean sprouts. The serombotan seasoning is made from turmeric, kencur, galangal, and spicy peanut sauce. Serombotan can be eaten alone or with rice and tipat. This food is also usually accompanied by fried green beans and grated roasted coconut is also used for sprinkling serombotan.

8. Lawar Klungah

If lawar is generally made from meat, lawar klungah is made from young coconut which is usually suitable for coconut ice. The inside of the young coconut is boiled until it boils and then chopped into small pieces. After that, the pieces are squeezed dry. The pieces of coconut are then grilled and mixed with Balinese spices, chopped lemo leaves, and fried onions. Some variants usually add small chopped chicken or pork.

9. Lontong Jukut Serapah

This local cuisine is quite unique because it uses a triangular or oval shape and is larger in size. The pieces of lontong are then served in small pieces with spinach, cassava leaves, boiled jackfruit or banana heart, and thick telengis gravy which is a mixture of coconut oil and boiled coconut milk.

10. Bagiak

You can find this Balinese cake in various Balinese gift shops. Bagiak is a kind of savory snack made from sago flour dough mixed with vegetable oil, sugar, and butter. Some variants add roasted grated coconut or eggs in the mixture. This mixture is then baked in leaf wraps. This cake is usually rectangular and eaten with tea or coffee

And here are 10 Balinese specialties that you must taste during your visit! Some of these foods may sound foreign to you, but never judge a food by its name. Who knows, perhaps these foods might be your new favorite food?

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