Nasi jenggo, rice mixed with spicy meat, chili sauce, fried noodles, vegetables and dried sweet tempe wrapped in a banana leaf, injects additional excitement into the local commercial snack mix. It is a nightly social obsession among locals, young university students and low-income workers on a budget. Nasi jenggo was originally introduced to Bali in the 1970s and named after a popular Italian movie, “Django.” Movie fans turned a few unprepossessing, pioneering nasi jenggo stalls into trendy nightspot hangouts. Hundreds of women now sell nasi jenggo at modest food stalls—a simple wooden table, a plastic or bamboo mat to sit on and a kerosene lamp for lighting—from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on downtown Denpasar’s main streets, concentrated on Jl. Sulawesi in front of the crowded Kumbasari market. The market itself is very busy every day from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. as produce arrives from the countryside and vegetable wholesalers offload produce to villagers to bring back and resell in their early morning home markets. People who work at night need simple food and nasi jenggo sells for a very affordable Rp.1,500–2,000 in Bali. Before so many competing stalls emerged, the early nasi jenggo stalls used to turn over from 500 packages of the delicacy per day to 1,000 on a Saturday night, with the average patron eating two or three servings. The women also sell local beverages like wedang jahe, a hot ginger drink. Coffee, tea, soft drinks and beer are also stocked. Customers are often forced to buy an accompanying bottle of beer.
Nasi jenggo is characteristically produced in, and known for, its small portions, typically the size of a handful of food. In actuality, it is a lot bigger than that, about 35–40 percent of the size of nasi bungkus. The Balinese and Javanese alike will eat nasi jenggo either for breakfast or late at night, from midnight to 7 a.m. They purchase it at local warung or a kaki lima pushcart. Each kaki lima will carry a different type of nasi jenggo but all are precooked and prepackaged by larger manufacturers who sell them in bulk to the local kaki lima stands. Customers in Kuta can buy nasi jenggo closer to home at the nearby Kuta market. They can choose or ask what the day’s selection is, but by 8 p.m. most packets are sold out. Sepeda motor riders eagerly grab whatever is left and speed off, protected by hot food and good karma instead of a driver’s licence! The very modest price ranges from Rp.3,500–5,000 per package. Most Balinese buy three or four to construct a complete meal because they are so small. They can typically contain ayam betutu, lawar, ayam, babi guling plus rice, noodles, grated fried coconut (serunding) and Indonesia’s ubiquitous hot red sambal sauce. The wrapping for nasi jenggo depends on the seller. Balinese wrap it in banana leaves while more modern Javanese-owned enterprises wrap it in paper.
Creativity is the key to nasi jenggo. Each supplier will make it differently and there is variation between Balinese and Javanese producers. Nasi jenggo in its purest form resembles an artistic, house-shaped package of pleasure. A double layer of banana leaf squares serves as both outer wrapping and plate, secured with splinter thin semat toothpicks. Open the outer leaves to reveal the rice glory inside. The nasi jenggo itself is beautifully folded up in another semi-triangular banana leaf bundle with overlapping flaps. Lay the banana leaves out flat as a plate for the nasi jenggo construction within. The nasi jenggo consists of a triangular dome of white rice stuck against one side of a circular banana leaf piece. The other side of the leaf contains a trendy mixture of hot, blood red sambal sauce; thin, wiggly yellow noodles; peanuts, tempe slivers, green bok choy shreds, corn kernels; fried coconut serunding and tidbits of ayam. Eat the nasi jenggo with your right hand. Scoop up luscious, fiery fingerfuls and combine it with a generous mouthful of rice for a popular local culinary sensation. Satisfying, fulfilling nasi jenggo is a twenty-four hour a day. Indonesian comfort food for the market-going Balinese and Javanese masses in search of a quick, cheap, smaller version of nasi campur on the run.
Nasi Campur
(MIXED RICE)
Nasi campur consists of a heaping mound of cooked rice partnered with small quantities of seasonal side dishes. It typically includes creative combinations of banana leaf-wrapped surprise packages, hot curries, fish (teri or pindang), meat, chicken, eggs, peanuts, crisp-fried shallots, fried tempe, tahu (tofu), grated coconut with turmeric and spices and crisp fried crackers (krupuk) enlivened by sea salt and hot chili peppers. The vegetarian part of nasi campur can be any dish, from aromatic jukut kacang panjang goreng (long green beans) to chopped kangkung leaves to vegetables cooked in broth (kuah). Sambal (a typical chili sauce made with salt, fried shallots, shrimp paste, garlic, fiery chopped raw chilies and coconut oil) is prepared daily and put out in a separate bowl as a condiment for the nasi campur. Each person can thus make their food as spicy or as salty as they wish.
The Balinese eat some version of nasi campur almost every single day. It serves as either a snack or a main meal. The combination plate is always composed of white rice and whatever else is fresh, available and cooking in the kitchen that day. A driver will stop off at the renowned night market in Gianyar to enjoy a generous plate of nasi campur after a day of escorting tourists. He may also find time at midday to buy a delicious nasi campur assortment of mixed Balinese favorites at a local warung. Nasi campur is not usually made at home. Most people will go to a warung to eat this surprise orgy of multifarious, spicy odds and ends. The dish will always include satay sticks as an essential, expected and favorite meat splurge. And wherever there are satay sticks, a delicious fresh peanut sauce is sure to follow. The Balinese are experts at creating an eminently simple but perfect easy to create village peanut sauce. All that is required is 11 oz (300 g) of fried peanuts, 3½ oz (90 grams) of long red chilies (cabe Lombok), 2½ oz (60 g) of shallots, 1 oz (30 g) of garlic and ⅔ cup sweet soya sauce (kecap manis). Cut up all the ingredients first, fry all the spices in oil and then blend (or crush them using a mortar and pestle). Fry for ten minutes, and the authentic peanut sauce—forged in the dark, crowded kitchens of paradise—is ready to serve six lucky persons.
Recipe courtesy of the beautiful Pundi-Pundi Restaurant in Ubud, situated in the tall, productive, emerald green rice fields in the heart of the Balinese countryside. The Balinese architecture and natural beauty of these unique surroundings reflects the renowned healing (and eating) environment of Ubud. It is a spiritual experience to sample flavorful nasi campur surrounded by the peace and serenity of Bali’s untouched sawah. It is a magnificent and rare privilege to sit outside, facing a pink-flowered lotus pond, while enjoying the Pundi-Pundi’s excellent culinary creations. There are five delicious, characteristic Balinese food choices on Pundi-Pundi’s extensive menu: crispy duck, bebek betutu, ikan bakar (grilled whole fish) Jimbaran, pepes ikan and nasi campur. Recipe provided by the Pundi-Pundi’s executive chef, Nyoman Suartajaya (Karangasem Regency). e-mail: [email protected] Pundi-Pundi Restaurant. Jl. Pengosekan, Ubud. www.pundiubud.com, December 2011.
1 lb (450–500 g) steamed white rice
1¼ lb (600 g) grilled chicken with bone, either plain or spicy
3 boiled eggs
2/3 lb (300 g) chicken or beef for satay
½ lb (250 g) fillet fish (snapper) for grilled minced fish rolled in banana leaf (pepes)
deep-fried potato or corn fritters (bergedel)
sweet tempe, sliced (page 70)
1/3 lb (150 g) long beans, sliced on the diagonal
1/3 lb (150 g) white cabbage, chopped
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