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“Gado Gado” or Jukut Santok
Gado gado means, quite literally, “mix mix”. Gado gado is a mixed vegetable salad combined with a spicy, flavoursome peanut sauce, and is an Indonesian favourite popular in Bali.
One of the many joys of travel is the food. I love food!
I also love markets, and the insight they give into the everyday lives of the local people.
Combine those two components: food and markets, and I am in my element! So, I was very excited to read that the special package deal I’d organised at a resort at Sanur Beach, Bali, included a trip to the market and a cooking class.
My husband and I got up early to meet the chef at the appointed time of 6:30 am and to pick out a bicycle in order to ride the 3.5 kilometres to Pasar Tradisional Desa Sanur, the Sindhu Traditional Market – the principal fresh-food market in the Sanur Village area.
I have never seen a market so clean!
It turns out that this cleanliness is no accident. First opened in 1972, Sindhu Market was originally more ‘traditional’, that is, it was dark and dirty, with piles of refuse and puddles of water under-foot – especially during the rainy season. Because the market is in a tourism area, the Sanur community and the local government decided, in 2009, to renovate the market and promote it as a tourist destination.
Today, the market is beautifully clean, well lit, and orderly. It still services the local community, but it also attracts visitors and their tourist dollars.
After seeing where the ingredients come from, we got to watch them being combined into gado gado and satay lilit.
Join me on a culinary adventure!
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Following the Chef to Market
It’s still pretty quiet on the Sanur Beach roads as we follow the chef to the local morning market.
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Fish Sales – Sindhu Traditional Market
I spend a lot of time in markets when I’m travelling; this was easily the cleanest and most orderly one I’ve been in. It turns out that that is no accident: in 2009, the Sanur community came together to revitalize the market, renovating the stalls, expanding the aisles, conducting repairs on the ceiling and drainage, before covering the floors and counters with easy-clean white ceramic tiles.
Chef Widastra
Our chef and guide points out some of the herbs and spices commonly used in Balinese cooking, although he confesses that the food that is served at the resort where we are staying comes from a different supplier.
Shopkeeper
While this is a “traditional” market, many of its customers are tourists, and the shopkeepers are friendly and welcoming.
Market Courtyard
Butterfly Sewing Machine
Making Offerings
Balinese Hindu practices are a central part of everyday life; …
Focus on the Working Hands
… there are people making offering trays from banana leaf everywhere.
Placing the Offerings
Offerings are bought (or homemade) for placing in front of houses and buildings; on ancestor- or house-shrines; at shrines in temples; and in shops and markets.
Fresh Greenery
One of the beauties of the tropics is the fresh food …
Flowers
… and fresh flowers at every turn.
Needle-Nosed Fish
Parrotfishes
Parrotfishes
Dishing up Meals
You are never far from fresh, tasty food in Bali (or anywhere else in Southeast Asia for that matter!)
Egg Lady
Taro, Turmeric, Galangal, and Ginger
Balinese food relies on a complex spice and herb mix, including coriander, turmeric, galangal, ginger, chili, nutmeg, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. The different rhizomes and root vegetables all look much the same to me.
Sindhu Traditional Market
We take a last look of the market before we leave to cycle back to the resort to have breakfast ahead of attending a cooking class which will show us to how all the ingredients go together.
Ingredients in the Demonstration Kitchen
The ingredients make a colourful display in the demonstration kitchen, where we meet with Chef Dewa who will walk us through the day’s Balinese menu.
Ingredients for Base Be Pasih
The ingredients for the Base Be Pasih – the Balinese Spice Paste for Seafood – are lined up, fresh and colourful.
Making Satay Lilit
Chef Dewa shows us how seasoned minced snapper is attached to skewers of balsa or lemongrass, …
Making Satay Lilit
… continuing until the skewers are ready for grilling.
Making Peanut Sauce
While the fish satay skewers are cooking, Chef Dewa grinds peanuts in a large stone mortar, seasoning with palm sugar, chili, galangal, fried garlic, kaffir lime, and salt before adding water …
Gado Gado or Jukut Santok
… and mixing in the freshly cooked vegetables, to beforemake the gado gado that I love.
And then we got to eat it all. It doesn’t get better than that!
Until next time,
Bon Appétit!
Pictures: 27January2017
Wow !I am also fond of visiting the local markets.This colorful market reminds me of the local market at Thimphu.Have you been there?
Hi Sidran! I’ve been to Thimphu, but I don’t remember the markets very well ..,