Gambir Cake, a Typical Balinese Taffy

Not only rice wine and salted nuts favored by domestic tourists as typical souvenir of Bali, a number of snacks such as gambier snack is also responded positively by these circles. Gambier cake wrapped in leaves turns into a unique snack that can draw the intriguing interests of consumers to try.

“Gambier Cake can be said as typical souvenir of Bali that is no less attractive than rice wine, and salted peanuts,” said Ayu, a manager of souvenir shop providing typical souvenirs of Bali located around Denpasar not long ago.

Furthermore, she explained, as other regions in Indonesia, Bali also had a lot of typical and tempting snacks to enjoy. So far, she added, the current dominant market share for distinctive snack of Bali came from domestic tourists. Evidently, quite many tourists purchased gambier cakes, and this even increased when entering the holiday season.

According to Rini, another souvenir seller, the gambier cake itself was wrapped with typical and attractive leaf as the one used for taffy. When eaten, people would taste a tenderly ground peanut sauce inside. She said it was very unique and delicious as the batter of black sticky rice processed into rubbery taffy cake was encapsulated by ground peanut. That’s why many domestic tourists such as from East Java, Jakarta and Bandung were always interested to purchase it as snack souvenirs when they paid a visit to Bali.

Witari, another perpetrator of similar business, expressed the same opinion. She said that gambier confectionary had become one of the targets for a number of domestic tourists visiting Bali so far. During their visit to Bali they considered it incomplete before enjoying and bringing along gambier cake as souvenirs. Nevertheless, she admitted that the gambier cake business was inseparable from some problems. One of them occurred when the price of ingredients such as sticky rice increased.

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Jaja Bendu: Tasting Splendor of Balinese Cake

Other than exploring the beauty of nature, culture, and food, perhaps you are also eager to know about the Balinese cakes. As a religious community, Balinese have a wide treasure of cakes mainly offered in ritual activities. By and large, this diversity may be shown in terms of the making, look and presentation.

The easiest way to have a closer look at such diversity is by visiting traditional market nearby. A variety of cakes used to fill in the oblation in temple festival or individual worship, ranging from the ordinary up to the unique kinds are sold there. Busy people will prefer to purchase them. One of those unique cakes is the bendu cake. Except used for ritual need, this cake is also nice to savor as refreshment.

Ingredients required to make this cake are 500 gram of white sticky rice flour, ½ coconut (grated), 100 gram of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 cup of grated coconut mixed with 100 gram of palm sugar for sauce and a little oil to smear the pan.

Mix the flour with sugar, grated coconut and salt evenly, and knead them for a while. However, do not do it until sticky. Preheat the pan in small flames. Next, smear the pan by oil so it will not be sticky. Take some three tablespoons of batter and put in the center of pan. Then, spread it evenly until reaching a diameter of some 10-15 centimeters while pressing it by vegetable spoon. When it has been cooked, turn over and put the sugar sauce onto it. Ultimately, fold it in triangular form. Alternatively the sugar sauce can be placed after the piece of cake is taken out from the pan. Afterward, it is folded as above. Now, it is ready to serve!

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Lempet, unique delicacy from Klungkung

Lempet is a kind of traditional Balinese sea food which is famous in the eastern part of the island namely Klungkung Regency. Limpet is made from the fish that often being catch by the local fishermen. The food is made from fish which is already being cleaned so there are no bones left on the meat. The ingredients are similar with the other traditional Balinese food which uses chili, red sugar, garlic and onion.

The special thing about the food is the way to cook it. After all of the ingredients are mixed then the meat is blended with it. We must always remember that everything must be joined together and mixed properly so the taste will be delicious. After that, it is warp with banana leaf. The leaf chosen is the young one so it will not break easily. Then the lempet will be grilled but must use fire from coconut shells. It is said that the coconut shells can give a unique taste for the dish.

The burning process will take around 15 to 20 minutes. In order to get the best result, the fire must be small so the fish inside of the leaf will not burn. In Bali, this way of cooking is usually called “pesan” and in Bahasa Indonesia, it is called “pepes”. The limpet can be eaten with rice or without. The aroma of the burnt banana leaf will give special taste in the cuisine. The unique taste made the lempet often demanded by the customers. In Klungkung, limpet sellers can be seen on the way to Kusamba Beach through the border with Karangasem Regency. Kusamba is well known for its black sand and the high number of the fish that can be catch there.

After the fishermen come from the sea, lempet sellers will crowd to the boat to find the fresh fish. The quality of the fish is also determining the taste of lempet. The sellers are trying to find the best possible fish they can because the tight competition between lempet sellers. The high demand for the food made many people want to get profit from it so many of them turn to sell lempet.

For the people of Klungkung, lempet is their daily meal. They always buy the food everyday because it is very cheap and could last for over two days. That is why they love lempet, in addition to the delicious and unique taste of the food. It is also usually served during ceremony or other rituals in the regency.

Lempet is only existed in Klungkung Regency so for those who want to try it must come to the region which is only 1 hour from Denpasar. Bali has many unique cuisines which can attract tourist to come. It also could become other promotion tool so Bali is still the most designated island for tourists. For repeater guests who often come to Bali, the cuisine could become an alternative choice after they visit the tourism sites throughout the island. The cuisine also could become the souvenirs for those back home.

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Ngusaba Tegen, a Unique Ritual at Kedisan, Kintamani

In preserving the customs and culture, thousands of people of Kedisan, Kintamani, held a unique ritual named ngusaba tegen. In contrast to the ceremony in general, the ingredients used in the ngusaba tegen ritual was cake or fish that should be boiled or grilled.

Thousands of people were walking side by side while bringing the ritual paraphernalia in the form of offerings. Male residents carried the offerings of tegen-tegenan on carrying pole, while women carried an offering named gebogan. They left the village for the local Dalem Praja Pati Temple, the venue of ngusaba tegen ritual.

According to Chief of Kedisan Customary Village, it was an ancient tradition of rural society of Kedisan as expressed in Shiva Purana palm-leaf manuscript. Actually, it had been carried out for generations since the Kedisan Village was established.

Content of this tegenan offering included a variety of agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, fish and others. All items in the contents of carrying oblation consisted of twenty pieces. These carrying oblations would be presented by all men living at Kedisan Village. However, it was not allowed to use fried cake or fish. Instead, the cakes or fish should be grilled or steamed.

Other uniqueness of usabha tegen procession was the implementation of census tradition throughout the community by collection of perforated coins. The census was intended to get the amount of the entire Kedisan Village community. Then, the perforated coins obtained from the census were backfilled in the courtyard of the local temple. It was intended to inform the deity abiding in the Dalem Temple about the total number of local community. Based on the amount of coins collected, it was then known the number of Kedisan villagers, namely 2,992.

Usabha tegen ritual was held annually in the third month of Balinese calendar falling around August or September.

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UNESCO to visit Bali for world heritage nomination assessment

A team from UNESCO will visit locations in Bali next month as part of a final assessment for a potential world cultural heritage nomination, a Bali Culture Agency official says.

“The teams are scheduled to be in Bali Oct. 12-17,” agency head Ketut Suastika said on Saturday in Denpasar as quoted by Antara news wire.

Suastika said that three locations had been nominated as potential world cultural heritage sites, namely Pakerisan water catchment area in Gianyar, the rice paddy field area in Jatiluwih, Tabanan and the Taman Ayun temple in Badung.

“We have been intensively renovating those locations, and especially inviting the local community commitment to support the assessment process,” he said.

The results of the visit will be shared and discussed during the UNESCO assembly in June next year.

The Jakarta Post

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Southern Bali to Get New Toll Road

South Bali is to get a new 11-kilometre toll road as part of efforts to ease chronic congestion.

A new consortium has been formed to fund and run the Rp2.4-trillion (US$280-million) project, with work expected to begin later this year, it was revealed this week.

The Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC), a government-owned tourism company which manages the Nusa Dua resort area, will be responsible for the project, which will connect Nusa Dua, Benoa and Ngurah Rai International Airport.

“This project will address the severe traffic jams we are experiencing right now,” BTDC operational director I Nyoman Cakra told reporters. “The toll road will provide a better and more convenient route for tourists.”

Cakra said that as well as improving current conditions, the new road would allow for further growth of tourism in Bali.

A construction consortium to invest in the project was founded in August, featuring seven state-owned investors. BTDC will contribute just 1 percent of the funding. Principal investors include PT Jasa Marga, the company which runs most of Indonesia’s existing toll-road concessions and which is contributing 60 percent of the funding; Pelindo III, which runs Benoa Harbour and which will add 20 percent funding to the total; and PT Angkasa Pura, which runs Bali’s airport, and which will contribute 10 percent.

Construction will begin in October, and is planned to be complete by April 2013, ahead of an APEC conference.

Meanwhile, the Bali Environmental Agency announced that it had not received any notification from the developers about the project, and stressed that an environmental impact assessment needed to be carried out before work began. The route of the new road will pass through the mangrove forests on the southeast coast of Bali.

“The document should be submitted to the head of the Environmental Agency prior to the commencement of any construction stage of the project. So far we have yet to receive such documentation,” said agency head I Komang Ardana.

Initial announcement of the plan was made in January. The road will link Serangan, otherwise known as Turtle Island, to the main port area at Benoa, and from there to the airport and Nusa Dua, relieving pressure on the current main highway, Jl Bypass Ngurah Rai, which is scene of some of Bali’s worst congestion, especially around the Dewa Ruci intersection on the outskirts of Kuta.

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Unique Bali Traditions will they stay?

Bali is an island filled with unique traditions, arts, cultures, and beautiful performances. Dances, play, songs and traditional music performances found in Bali have so many variations. One of the singing performances is kekawin. It is a traditional Bali singing performance and the lyrics are taken from holy Hindu books. We can say that kekawin is like a choir in the church but the difference is that the song lyrics are the holy spells (sentences) written in the Hindu bibles like Sarasamuccaya, Bhagawadghita, and epic stories like Ramayana and Mahabharata. Usually, it is performed during religious ceremonies, kekawin contests, and broadcasted on TV stations.

The group of people who sing kekawin is called Peshantian. Nowadays, there are not many Peshantian here in Bali. It is because kekawin is mainly sung by senior people. The youth seems to be uninterested in singing kekawin. Peshantian is a place to learn and comprehend aksara (Bali letters) in the Hindu bibles and then sing it. Kekawin is written in Latin and Bali letters. It is a little bit difficult to sing it because there is specific pitch, rhymes and intonation in singing kekawin Maybe; it is a reason why Bali young generation doesn’t want to learn it. There are two important persons in Peshantian group when the group sings kekawin. The first person is called Pewirama or the singer. She or he sings kekawin with appropriate rhymes, pitch, and intonation. The second person is called Peneges. He or she is the person who gives meaning or explains the sentence that pewirama sings. So, every time pewirama finishes his or her sentence (idyll), peneges then describes the meaning to the audience in the way of a story teller tells his story. After that, pewirama continues his or her part of sentence and then pewirama describes the meaning again. They do it until kekawin is finished. Before they start and after they finish the kekawin, they always say the Hindu greetings, Om Swastyastu and Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om.

There is a Peshantian group in Buleleng called Sekaa Shanti Dharma Sraya. The founder of this Peshantian group is Jero Mangku Ketut Kariawan. He gathered about 24 people in the year of 2000 to be members of Peshantian Sekaa Shanti Dharma Sraya. The members of Sekaa Shanti Dharma Sraya are the villagers of Kedis Village in BusungBiu sub district. They are middle aged men and women and they have great ability in singing and comprehending kekawin. Jero Mangku Ketut Kariawan’s purpose in gathering the villagers of Kedis village into a Peshantian group was to preserve kekawin. The group often performes on local TV stations in Bali. They also have won many awards in Peshantian contests conducted by the government culture and tourism board.

Moreover, there are many valuable moral values in kekawin that can teach us the meaning and the purpose of our lives. The stories taken in kekawin are stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata like the stories of Arjuna Wiwaa, Karnantaka, and etc. The stories consist of morals, etiquette, kindness, heroism, bravery, honesty, and reality.

Therefore, Jero Mangku Ketut Kariawan hopes that the young generation will have more interest in joining peshantian. The young generation in this era seems to be careless about this traditional music art inherited from the ancestors. They should preserve this art because if they don’t, who else? At least by joining peshantian the young generation can show their gratitude to their ancestors and moreover, they can learn many precious things in peshantian. Although singing kekawin is not an easy thing, but through persistance, Jero Mangku Ketut Kariawan believes they can do it.

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