Very simple, rustic, seafood warungs are set up along the east coast beaches selling fish sate lilit and other jukung-fresh seafood dishes (served with beans, spicy homemade sambal, and rice) to local Balinese customers. Warungs at Goa Lawah in Karangasem Regency serve a coastal feast of fragrant dishes such as steamed fish parcels, fish satay, and spicy, piquant fish soup (ikan mekuah). The fishing village of Kusamba is known for such local specialties as fish satay, ikan pepes (a spicy fish concoction wrapped and steamed in banana leaves), and ikan mekuah (native and particular to the Kusamba region, it is made with tuna, mackerel, or swordfish). Catering to Balinese taste buds, these crowded warungs range from old, established, pastel-painted concrete blocks to popular bamboo or aromatic alang-alang, thatched village affairs. They display their offerings at the front counter: grilled fish in banana leaves, fish satays (furiously fanned over coconut coals), pots of fish curry simmering over kerosene flames, and sop kepala ikan (fish head soup with tamarind and tomatoes). In the late afternoons, the last boat batch of fresh fish arrives from the sea—headed straight across the black volcanic sands for these waiting warung pots and grills. Seafood stalls abound in the port of Gilimanuk, while Pebuahan fishing community has beachside seafood stalls and warungs rivalling the charm and quality of Jimbaran Bay’s renowned restaurant row.
Life is plentiful at the shore’s edge, reflected in myriad, authentic Balinese seafood dishes such as kenus mebase Bali (braised Balinese squid with lime and lemon basil), be (fish in Balinese) pasih (sea in Balinese) mepanggang (grilled)--whole, marinated charcoal-grilled snapper (or other fish) served with sambal tomato or sambal matah, and udang mepanggang (grilled prawns). Tuna sambal matah is one of Bali’s most characteristic, native seafood specialties: tuna and other meaty fishes are plentiful, but the Balinese normally use pindang (sardines)--readily available—flies-a-buzzing--in the local markets. Sourced from Lovina or Jimbaran (the two main Balinese fish supply depots), the Balinese boil the pindang in water with sea salt as they prefer the salty taste. The fish is then boiled, fried, or grilled, but it is always topped with a trademark, uncooked, spicy sambal (sauce) matah (raw) made of shallots, hot red chillies, lime, coconut oil, and lemon grass.
Pepes Be Pasih, grilled fish in banana leaves, is Bali’s signature seafood dish (called pepes ikan in Bahasa Indonesia). Pepes be pasih is made from fresh tuna (tongkol), snapper, ikan laut, languan (sea fish), tenggiri (Spanish mackerel), or other fish. The fish is ground or minced using traditional equipment (a mortar and pestle) for thirty minutes, and then combined with coconut, chillies, sambal sauce, fragrant gingers, and bumbu (spice paste). Left to marinate briefly in this fragrant mixture of ingredients, the parcel (with a similar look and consistency to sate lilit) is wrapped in a banana leaf sheet and then either boiled, steamed, or grilled. Bali’s renowned double cooking process (steaming first and then grilling) is not employed—only one cooking method—normally grilling—is selected. The small, rolled-up, tidy little packages are grilled directly over dried, hot coconut shells (husks) to make dainty, sushi-sized morcels of pleasure. Porous, tropical banana leaves are perfect for grilling or steaming as they retain natural flavors while imparting their own special aroma. Served in its unfolded, organic banana leaf wrapper, pepes be pasih is often served at Balinese wedding ceremonies. Another Balinese mainstay, tambusan be pasih (grilled fish) is moist, slowly-roasted, sliced, whole mackerel or catfish fillets simply grilled and served (tambusan means grilled).
Sambal udang (plump prawns braised in a red, spicy, soupy sauce of chillies, onion, lime, and coconut cream) and cumi-cumi panggang (marinated grilled squid) complete the aquarium of aquatic delicacies. Other local fish-based specialties are fried seafood cakes, squid with green papayas, ikan bakar (whole fish or fish filets marinated and grilled), steamed prawn or crab in banana leaf (palem udang or palem yuyu), and hasil laut bumbu kuning (assorted seafood braised in yellow, soupy, coconut milk sauce). Seafood dishes feature red and white snapper, grouper, catfish, tuna, barracuda, barramundi, prawns, King bamboo prawns, squid, mussels, crab, clams, giant clams, lobster, and scallops sold by 100-gram weights at the grilled seafood, sunset warungs strung along Jimbaran Bay. Select a fresh, wriggling specimen from the small ice chests and savor succulent seafood—toes in the sand—at a front row, waterside table. Inhale the smoky scent of the billowing, busy, coconut husk-powered grills lining the rear ring road. Massive white stratus clouds of smoke rise heavenwards--sending sacred seafood sari straight up to the gods from these nightly, coconut husk fires blazing from dusk to midnight.
