Balinese are predominant Hindus, so there culinary is very much influenced by Indian culture, including Chinese and Indonesian culture too. Indian influence cuts out beef from their major dishes but you will still find some people who consume beef.
So you cannot expect an easy hand on it but Bali is famous for it rice production and you will get tasty authentic Balinese as well as Indonesian food which includes a ‘lot’ of steamed rice. Besides that you can find vegetarian food, Non-vegetarian food, Seafood, International and Fusion cuisine.
Being influenced by so many cultures and experimenting with their foods, you shouldn’t miss a lot of ethnic food such as:
- Babi Guling: A traditional dish for which a hole is dugged in the ground and heated stones are placed inside where the pig is kept and covered with leaves and left to cook.
- Bubur Sum Sum: It is a dessert which is made by cooking rice flour with coconut milk till it thickens.
- Lawar: It is a mixture of vegetables, coconut, minced meat with some rich herbs and spices.
- Sate Lilit: A mix of meat, grated coconut, coconut milk, lemon juice, shallots and pepper is wrapped around bamboo, sugarcane or lemongrass sticks and then roasted on charcoal. The meat could be of pork, fish, chicken, beef or even turtle.