A wonderful experience seeing rice fields & learning to cook & enjoy local Balinese cuisine
The entire day spent with Cookly’s Organic Authentic Balinese Cooking Class with Trekking in the Jatiluwih Rice Terraces was an amazingly wonderful time. Booking with Cookly was simple and easy with communication, all done via WhatsApp and email, was prompt and efficient.
The actual tour and cooking class was handled by the owner of Kubo Terrace Cooking Class, Mr. Made Senang, and his brother. In fact, his brother was the driver who picked me up at the hotel at 7:15 AM.
It took almost 2 hours to get to the Jatiluwih Rice Terraces (Bali Traffic is extremely congested). When I arrived, I met Made, who gave me a tour of the rice terraces as we walked to his establishment, which is located within the rice terraces. As we walked, he explained the rice terraces are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and how the land has been owned within the same families for generations, including his own. I also learned about the growing, harvesting, and drying of red rice, which is what was happening at the moment, so it was pretty neat to see.
Seeing the rice terraces and how intensely farmed the entire area is incredibly beautiful. Every inch of soil is used with the grass on the pathways between the rice patties being cut and used for feeding cows, there are banana trees, coconut trees, and other fruit trees grown on the side of the roads, and within each owner’s plot of land.
The Kubo Rice Terrace Cooking Class is as amazing and impressive as are the rice terraces as Made and his brother are passionate about the land, the food it produces, and living in harmony with the land. As Made said several times during the day, all the food they need is here on the land.
Before starting the cooking, Made reviewed the menu and the ingredients we will use so we knew exactly what to expect during the class. He then surprised us by saying we would be picking all the vegetables and herbs for the recipes out of his garden here at the farm. This included moringa, celery, cucumber, tomato, limes, cabbage, spinach, green beans, coconut, and bay leaves. Amazing!
Once we had all the ingredients, we began cooking. Made and his brother explained each step in the process, like why the spices are ground into a pulp and then heated before use; the grinding ensures you get all the spice flavor out of the spice and the heating further activates the spice’s aroma and flavor. We also learned about the spice mixture, Bumbu Bali, which is a staple in almost every Balinese meal. Our menu included Moringa/Kelor soup, mixed vegetables, chicken satay, Balinese chicken curry, chicken dumplings, how to make the dumplings using banana leaves, how to make peanut sauce and finally, for dessert, fried bananas.
We then got to eat our lunch while enjoying the panoramic view of the rice fields.
The day was a wonderful experience in both seeing the rice fields and learning how to prepare and enjoy local cuisine. I hope you get the chance to do the tour and enjoy it as much as I did.
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