As enthusiast i love trying trying local foods. And Bali has some special foods that are just too delicious to be missed. The special food can be found in small warung to fancy restaurants. Here are some of of recommendations. Below list are very subjective based on my taste. ๐
SATE LILIT, is definitely one of my favorite. The real sate lilit is made out of mince pork. However as markets more diverse and many moslems visitors, now there are sate lilit made out of chicken, fish or beef. Unlike other satay, the meat are attached around lemon grass, not bamboo skewers. This what makes sate lilit so unique and tasty. If you are moslem looking for authentic satay lilit i recommend visit Kusamba, for fish satay lilit.
CHICKEN BETUTU was used on the old times for Balinese ritual. It was a chicken or duck carcass cooked using Balinese spices, Base Genep. It was originally from Gianyar Bali and then spread over Bali to Jembrana and Gilimanuk. In the past the carcass was wrapped in pinang leaves and then buried in rice paddy skin and then grill for 10 hours.
SAMBAL MATAH is raw sambal made out sliced tomatoes, chilly, shallot, with coconut oil, sugar, salt, lemon grass and lime. As sambal lover, i find this is perfect to be eaten with chicken, beef, or event satay.
MUJAIR NYAT NYAT is special cuisine from Kintamani area, especially around Lake Batur. The fish, Mujair fish are from Lake Batur and then cooked with Balinese spices. Other special cuisine from Kintamani is black peanut soup. Both Mujair Nyat Nyat and Black Peanut Soup can be enjoyed while relishing the panorama of Lake and Mount Batur
KAKUL SATAY is satay made out of blood clam (Anandara granosa), that can be found in Bali. This tastes super yummy and it can lower blood pressure / hypertension and also high protein and low cholesterol.
JUKUT ARES is mainly made out of young banana stem and then served with bones soup that it is delicious to be enjoyed on rainy season hen it is hot. Jukut means vegetables/ cuisine and Ares means banana stems. This menu can be found easily in warung in Bali.
JUKUT UNDIS is black peanut soup. The black peanut is black pigeon peas and the soup tastes delicious and also healthy. Locals believe that black peas also cure fever, herpes, cough and worm infections. This cuisine is Buleleng region special menu.
PLECING SATAY is special menu from Singaraja, north Bali. The meats are mixed with plecing spices, that it has taste of hot, sour, tasty, sweet.
LAWAR is mixed of some vegetables with pork or chicken cooked with Balinese special spices. Lawar can be mixed with the animal blood of chicken/ pig to make it more tasty. If the ingredient is made out of jackfruit, it is called Lawar Nangka , if it is made out of pork it is called Lawar Babi. For muslem, there is halal lawar made without pork and pork blood.
BABI GOLING is grilled pork special from Bali. You can find on the streets which offers tasty babi guling. Definitely for for muslim. Guling means rolled over, as when it was grilled it was rolled over to make the whole pig done at the same time. There is not much change in cooking babi guling for centuries in Bali. Except for the skewer, now using metal skewer. The whole pig was cleaned and then complete Balinese spices called basa gede stuffed inside the body and then started to be grilled above fire and rolled. The most popular babi guling in Bali is Babi Guling Bu Oka.
RUJAK BULUNG is Balinese salad made out of seaweed. It is mixed with fish soup, chilly pepper, grilled grated coconut, and lengkuas. Usually it is served with ketupat or tipat gulung.