Basic Receipe of Balinese Spices

Spice Paste for Seafood – Base Be Pasih:

Ingredients:

450 g Large red chilies halved, seeded and sliced 50 g Garlic, peeled and sliced 225 g Shallots, peeled and sliced 175 g Turmeric fresh, peeled and sliced 100 g Ginger, peeled and sliced 125 g Candlenuts 200 g Medium-sized tomato, halved and seeded 2 tbsp Coriander seeds crushed 2 tbsp Dried shrimp paste (terasi), roasted 150 ml Coconut oil 2½ tbsp Tamarind pulp soaked in 1 cup of water for 20 minutes. Strained 250 ml Water ¾ tbsp Salt 3 Salam leaves 2 Stalks Lemon grass bruised

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients except tamarind pulp, Salam leaves and lemon grass, salt and water in stone mortar or food processor and grind coarsely. Place ground ingredients into heavy saucepan, add remaining ingredients and simmer over medium heat for approximately 60 minutes or until water is evaporated and marinade changes to golden color. Cool before using

Stocks:

A Classic meat or fish stock should be as clear and tasty as possible so that it can be made into a soup or a broth that becomes the foundation for so many dishes. To make a stock, bones and often meat as (remove all fat) are first washed thoroughly. To make a light stock they are first put in a pot of cold water that is brought quickly to a boil; they are then removed from the pot and properly washed and rinsed under running water. This blanching step removes surface impurities and coagulates surface proteins on the bones and the meat so that they won’t cloud the cooking liquid. One part bones are then filled up with 3 part of water and brought back to a simmer for at least 5 to 6 hours. To make a dark stock for brown sauces, the bones are first roasted golden in a medium hot oven to produce color and a more intensive roasted meat flavor with the Meillard reactions between proteins and carbohydrates. This process also coagulates the surface proteins and makes blanching unnecessary. Within our kitchen all our stocks are prepared in a pressure cooker and to intensive the flavor of our stocks 2/3 of the bones are blanched first as descripted above and 1/3 roasted golden. Then towards the end of the roasting process we add a small amount of full cream milk powder which is also roasted golden.