Nasi Love

On a recent trip to Bali I discovered the joys of Nasi Campur. ..

Nasi campur (mixed rice) is the most basic dish in Indo. That together with nasi goreng (fried rice) are the 2 meals most commonly consumed - Indonesians will typically have these dishes for both lunch and dinner, and probably a cigarette and a coffee for breakfast.

Nasi campur is a portion of steamed white rice (nasi putih) together with an assortment of other items, which can be wide ranging depending on who’s cooking. Its guaranteed that no 2 places will serve the exact same nasi campur. This dish has been around for a long time because it enables people to use left overs and small amounts of the more expensive items.

Around Kuta/Seminyak are a wealth of small warungs serving nasi campur. Some are oriented towards tourists / expats, other towards locals. It is pretty easy to tell which is which based on price (2500RP for locals compared to 25,000RP for tourists).

My very favourite Nasi Campur was at Made’s Warung (the original Made’s is in Kuta, and the new Made’s is in Seminyak). Made’s does an awesome campur for 15,000rp. Items found in nasi campur include tofu (tahu) tempe, chicken (ayam), beef (sapi), fish (ikan), peanuts (kacang), together with a wide selction of cooked vegetables including kangkung, the stringy green plant sometimes cooked with garlic and chili. A dollop of hot sambal might be added to the side of the plate, so treat any red sauce with care.

My favourite dish was the 1/2 nasi campur, 1/2 gado gado served at Made’s. It is 35,000RP (around $4) and is making my mouth water thinking about it. Under the low lighting of the beautiful balinese style courtyard at new Made’s you can’t really see what you are eating, but just devour this plate of yummy yummy flavours.

I would love to learn how to make it.

Balinese Ginger Chicken

Serves 4








1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces - or use thigh fillets if you would prefer
1/2 cup honey
2 Tb garlic, crushed
1/2 cup grated ginger
1 red chilli, chopped, or to taste
1 stalk lemon grass, very finely chopped
1/2 cup light soy sauce

If you are using a whole chicken, slash each of the pieces through to the bone in the thickest places two or three times. This will allow the marinade to penetrate better and also allow the chicken to cook more quickly.
Arrange the chicken in a single layer in a baking dish, into which they most neatly fit.
Combine the rest of the ingredients for the marinade and pour this over the chicken pieces.
Using your hands, work the marinade into the chicken. Roast the chicken in a 200 degree oven until richly browned because of the honey.
OR you can barbeque the chicken, but watch the heat because of the honey.
Tonight I cooked the chicken in a wok - I let it marinate and then using tongs added the chicken to a hot wok. I boiled the marinade and drained it to serve as a sauce with the rice. Make sure you boil the marinade if you are using it to get rid of any bugs from the raw chicken.

Grublover comment
This dish is a simple, very typical Balinese family meal. Adjust the chilli level to your personal taste. With the ginger, use the paler, thin-skinned ginger because this is a sweeter, less hot flavour. I like to serve this with a green asian style salad and rice.