Spice table
Where the spice table sits on a food day
Sit at this spice table in Petulu
IDR 450.000per guest, shared class
How to read a Balinese spice table: each bowl is part of the recipe. What changes when the menu is plant-based, and how the table is set in Petulu.
By Chef Wayan Suryana, Warung Tumang BaliLast updated First published
The short answer
A Balinese spice table holds the day’s cooking in small bowls: red chili, shallot and garlic, turmeric and other roots, grated coconut, lime leaves, and banana leaf. Most of it becomes base genep, the spice paste that is fried in coconut oil before it seasons anything.
The bowls are the recipe
Before the wok is lit, the table holds the day in small bowls: red chili, shallot and garlic, turmeric and other roots, grated coconut, lime leaves, and a stack of banana leaf. If you can name those, you can follow the cooking.
Base genep is the raw mix of those roots and aromatics. It is fried in coconut oil before it seasons food. Candlenut in that mix is cooked with the paste. Do not eat the raw grind.
What changes for a plant-based table
Shrimp paste is the ingredient that drops out. Coconut, chili, turmeric, galangal, and lime leaf stay. Tofu and tempeh take the place of fish in pepes and sate. The bowls look almost the same, which is why a plant-based class can run in the same kitchen on the same morning.
Say it when you book. The shopping at the market changes, and the paste is ground without terasi.
At this kitchen
The table in the photograph is the class table at Warung Tumang Bali. Chef Wayan Suryana teaches the paste in English, with at most eight guests. You use your hands. A booklet goes home with the written versions.
The warung is in Petulu, about 10 minutes from central Ubud, depending on traffic. One kitchen, one pin on the map.
Questions before the day
- What is base genep?
- The complete Balinese spice paste of shallot, garlic, roots, candlenut, and aromatics. It is fried in coconut oil before it seasons food.
- Can you eat the raw spice paste?
- No. Candlenut in the mix must be cooked, so the paste is fried first.
- What changes on a vegetarian spice table?
- Shrimp paste drops out. Tofu and tempeh take the place of fish in pepes and sate. The other bowls stay almost the same.
Plan the rest of the day
- A vegetarian cooking class in UbudVegetarian cooking class in Ubud at Warung Tumang Bali, Petulu. Full plant board, shrimp paste out. Shared IDR 450.000. Vegan on request. Max 8.
- A half-day food itinerary from central UbudA half-day Ubud food plan: dawn market, Petulu rice-field walk, kitchen lunch by 12:30pm. One village kitchen in Bali 80571, not a 48-hour restaurant list.
- Morning session or afternoon sessionChoose the 8:30am Petulu morning (market, rice walk, cooking, lunch) or the 2:30pm afternoon (rice walk, cooking, dinner). Same kitchen, pickup, and group size.
Cook the dishes from this day
Where the kitchen is
Chef Wayan Suryana at Warung Tumang Bali, Banjar Laplapan, Petulu, Ubud, Gianyar, Bali 80571. The kitchen is about 10 minutes from central Ubud, depending on traffic. Pin -8.4945671, 115.2812928.