THE SWEET AND SALTY FLAVOURS

SHRIMP PASTE : TERASI / BELACAN
A pungent seasoning essential to Southeast Asian cooking and made up mainly of fermented crustaceans. Shrimp paste blends miraculously with all the other local spices and has a richer, mellower flavour than fish sauce. In Bali shrimp paste is either fried or roasted. Store it wrapped in foil in a glass jar and leave it’s in the refrigerator and don’t forget to open the windows while cooking. Shrimp paste is rich in calcium, protein.
Substitute : Fish sauce.

SEA SALT : GARAM
Undeniably the world’s first seasoning, sea salt is the only salt used in Balinese cooking. White, flaky and tasting like the ocean, it is produced in coastal areas around Bali. Sea salt is prized not only for its natural, almost sweet flavour but also for the minerals it provides. It is said that fresh sea salt contains up to eighty four mineral, all of which the body requires. A dash of sea salt is always added to sweet and savoury dishes to enhance flavours and even coconut milk is bland without it.

SOY SAUCE : KECAP ASIN/KECAP MANIS
Soy sauce was introduced to Indonesia by the Chinese and there are two types used in Balinese cooking to give added life to famous dishes, such as nasi goreng, mie goreng and a whole host of sauteed vegetable dishes. Kecap asin – asin meaning salty is a dark soy sauce. Kecap manis – manis meaning sweet is a dark rich sweet soy sauce with a distinctive molasses -. like flavour and thick pouring consistency. It is perhaps more popular than kecap asin and is certainly delicious in marinades, stir fried vegetable and sambals. It’s was call the balsamic vinegar of Indonesian cuisine.
Substitute : For kecap manis, mix soy sauce with brown sugar.

PALM SUGAR : GULA MERAH OR GULA BALI
This delicious caramel-flavoured natural sugar. It is made by extracting the nectar from the flower bud of aren palm tree. It has some of the B vitamin, iron, minerals, and calcium. Palm sugar is lower in calories than white sugar and not as sweet.
Substitute : Brown sugar, golden syrup, maple syrup.

PALM SUGAR SYRUP :
500 g brown palm sugar
2 cups of water
1 pandan leaf or 1 vanilla bean
Put the palm sugar, pandan leaf tied in a knot or vanilla bean and water in saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for approximately 15 minute, without stirring, until the liquid has reduced by nearly half. The syrup is ready when large bubbles appear on the surface, as when making toffee. While warm, strain into a jug and leave to cool. It will thicken up at this point. The flavour of your syrup will depend on the quality of your palm sugar, store in the refrigerator.
Makes 1½ cups.