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Grating
coconut and grinding spices can be
time-consuming unless such tasks are
shared.
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Ibu
Rani pauses for her daily glass of jamu, a herb; brew
which she says keeps her body "clean inside then buys breakfast
for herself and her husband: few small moist rice cakes or jaja,
sprinkled with fresh coconut and splashed with palm sugar syrup.
Hoisting her basket onto her head, Rani then walks home.
Within
the compound, sounds of grinding can a ready be heard from the other
two kitchens. Pulling out the morning's purchases, Rani gets to
work, peeling and chopping seasonings for the leaf-wrapped food
turn. "I make tum almost every day," she explains,
"sometimes it's with eels, with a little meat or perhaps some chicken.
Today, I'm going to use pork."
An earthy
smell permeates the kitchen as she finely chops shallots, ginger,
garlic, chillies, fresh turmeric, kencur roots and
salam leaves. Next, she removes scraps of gristle
from the piece of pork and throws them out for the chickens. The
pork is then deftly minced into paste with a cleaver, and mixed
with chopped seasoning, a big pinch of salt, a splash of oil and
the pig's blood.
Large
spoonfuls of this mixture are spread onto a square of banana leaf,
carefully folded, then secured with a slender bamboo skewer. By
this time, the rice-which had slivers of sweet potato added halfway
through cooking is turned out into a colander. The leaf-wrapped
bundles of pork are set in the same steamer used for the rice and
put over boil ing water to cook.
Pulling
out her saucer-shaped stone mortar Rani gets ready to grind the
spices for seasoning the tempe. "Don't bother to peel
the garlic," she cautions, "there's no need, the skins will fall
of when it's cooking." Like most Balinese cooks, she sees no need
for fussy refinements.
The ground
turmeric root, garlic, salt and white peppercorns are mixed with
a little water and massaged into the protein-rich tempe,
which is left: to stand for about half an hour before frying. Rani
fries the peanuts in her wok, reserving some as a crunchy garnish
and then grinds the remainder with toasted shrimp paste ana cniuies
To make a tangy sauce to be mixed with the blanched green vegetable
(kangkung). The eels are drained, salted and cleaned
before also being fried in hot oil. Their crunchiness and flavour
is later improved by tossing them in the wok with chilli paste.
Finally,
everything is cooked and ready. The colander of rice is covered
and left on the bench, and the remaining dishes set in a cupboard
for family members to help themselves to throughout the day.
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