Bali Food - Tropical Fruits Part 1

 I simply can't get enough of the local fruits.  Even a banana tastes so much better than a banana....And it's not just me romanticizing things because of the beautiful surroundings, they really do taste better!

Tropical fruits in Bali are refreshingly satisfying, but more importantly, they are fresher than fresh.  I think it may have something to do with lack of refrigeration at the markets and perhaps in many homes.  Therefore everything is harvested just in time for selling, and bought just in time for using. Or so I've been reading. At any rate, they are the freshest tropical fruits I've had in a long time.

I find myself naturally gravitating toward these wonderfully nutritious treats.  Any time of day.  It feels like I'm on an unplanned spa detox, or something, because I've lost all interest in french style breads & pastries, cheeses, and even wine. (Yes these items are available here in my hotel, at the expat grocery stores, or at specialty stores/cafés).  I just have no taste for them.  Anyone who knows me well might find that hard to believe, but with so many fruit choices and fruit juices at hand, I tell you it's easy to do.

Here is a sampling of some local fruits, many of which I tried for the first time:

The Rambutan, or sometimes called the hairy red fruit.  It reminds me of a lychee but not quite so juicy.  The flavor is great however.  I love it & recommend trying it.  The "hairs" are not as prickly as they might seem.  And it's quite easy to open up.  I used a knife just to see, but you can easily peel it and pop it into your mouth.  Just be careful not to eat the pit. 

The Salak, or snakeskin fruit, is a rather exotic looking thing.  Who would ever guess you'd find a fruit inside that hard looking armoured exterior?  It's not a soft fruit.  In fact, it's crunchy and kind of hard.  The texture almost reminds me of a clove of garlic.  In fact, it looks like a clove of garlic on the inside, but luckily tastes nothing like it.  It has more of a nutty taste with a citrus acidity.  Each of the white bulbs contains a big brown pit which is not edible.  I find this fruit interesting.  I don't know what you could do with a salak other than to eat it as is....but I certainly appreciate it, even if it's not the first fruit I would grab from the fruit basket (that honor goes to passion fruit...)    

Orange Peel Passion Fruit - simply amazing.  So fresh;  so fragrant.  In Paris, I can buy passion fruit (with a dark red peel) at the légumerie and the vendor will pick out the wrinkle skinned ones because those are the ripest.  Here, that's not been the case.  The skins have been smooth & fresh looking.  If you're not familiar with passion fruit, simply cut them in half and scoop out what's inside.  The fruit is actually a gelatinous kind of liquid with seeds.  The liquid is divine and the crunchy seeds are edible.  All together, it is outrageously good.  The perfum of the fruit is delicate and hard for me to describe.  You must taste one for yourself.  In this variety, the liquid is a pale grey color and the seeds are a darker shade of that.  You can see the uncut, whole fruit in the top photo - it might look like an orange, but it is a passion fruit.  And by the way, they are super light weight.

Yellow Peel Passion Fruit - here the very smooth outside peel is a pale yellow color, the gelatinous liquid is yellow, and the seeds are dark.  This variety also tastes divine.  This particular one was very juicy, and slightly acidic....making it very good!  The little white nubbies inside are really soft and pliable which is a nice mechanism for protecting the delicate fruit inside. It's no wonder that passion fruit finds its way into many dessert and pastry delicacies...

More tropical fruits from Bali to follow later on...

:/dma

Salicorne (Pousse-Pierre)

I've got salicorne on my mind.  We recently had dinner with friends from Colombia, who were passing through Paris - so I went to the market on Sunday morning to see what I could find for dinner that night.  At the fish shop sat a pile of fresh salicorne.  Cool!  I don't see that often, and so I eagerly asked the fish guy to give me a few handfuls.

So, what is salicorne exactly?  I tasted it for the first time in the marshlands of Brittany many years ago while visiting a fleur de sel "farm", just off the Atlantic coast.  It's a green plant, a sea vegetable, that grows wildly along the salt marshes.  We picked some that day & ate it on the spot, guided by an expert from the region.  It was salty, immensely crunchy & very moist!  An explosion of sea in your mouth, without it tasting too salty, oddly enough.  I immediately liked it. 

Salicorne goes by many names...I don't think I've seen anything called so many different things!  My favorite is sea asparagus because, well, they kind of look like mini asparagus (to me) & they  taste like the sea!  Other names include slender glasswort, sea beans, sea pickle, and samphire.  Isn't Google great...It also clarified for me that it originates off the coasts of Europe but can also be cultivated and found in other parts of the world, including the coasts of North America, South Africa and South Asia.  Many high end restaurants use it on their plates because it is surprisingly good & beautiful.

It can be eaten raw, pickled, and sautéed....

I served it raw on Sunday night as part of the entrée froid (cold 1st course):  Ceviche de bar, mariniére de coquillages aux aromates et salicorne (Sea bass ceviche, shellfish & aromatic vegetable salad with sea asparagus).

Here's how I prepared it:

I gave it a brief soak in fresh water and then painstakingly cut off the ends of each mini stalk, where it had browned ever so slightly & I didn't think that would look so appetizing on the plate (see middle photo above - cutting the ends off so meticulously is probably not necessary unless, of course, they've started to go bad...it's just my preference to eat them looking pristine, so that's why I did it that way...)  Then I tossed them with a vinaigrette, added some freshly ground pepper, and DID NOT salt them!  They're plenty salty as it is, which by the way, you might want to leave them to soak in water a bit more than I did to desalinate them more...  Anyway, next I simply added the seasoned salicorne to the plate, as a decorative garnish.  That's all.  Not everyone will like the texture or taste, but it's certainly a discovery & well worth trying.  It's at the tail end of the season, so if you come across it, don't be afraid to give it a try!

Hope you enjoy it!
/dma

ps.  It was great to see you again, Patricia & Philippe!

Les Amandes Fraîches - Fresh Almonds

Today I was out & about, hitting the pavement, checking out parts of the 15th arrondissement (district) as a potential location for setting up shop. Along the way I came across a little store, an "Epicerie Libanaise" (Lebanese grocery store). It was an inviting store front that lured me in to see what new items it might have to discover. Many of its products I could not understand because of packaging written in arabic. Then there was a display case of prepared foods that I could understand, with my eyes at least, but it was much too early for lunch.

As I was leaving, however, I noticed a box just sitting there. A small crate actually. I asked the shop owner, "How much are those fresh almonds?" I wasn't sure if they were actually for sale, or just part of the store's inventory. He was really pleased with my question, which surprised me. He started talking about how these were the very first almonds of the season. I asked where they were from. He said "Lebanon", and then he continued talking about how fresh these were. (Having walked into a Lebanese grocery store, I kind of assumed they were from Lebanon....and I was hoping for a more specific answer....!) However, he was so caught up in talking about these almonds that I eventually dropped my intended follow-up question, "but where?"!

He quickly explained that these are at the highest price point they will ever be because, simply, they are at their freshest. They were 8€/kg, in case you're wondering (~$5.50/lb). After this, the almonds are less good because they are less fresh, and the price will go down, he explained.

Then, he asked me, "do you know how to eat these?" I said no. I've already worked with fresh almonds in the past, but I wasn't sure where he was going with this. Then he simply took a bite of one, green skin (or should I say fur), and all! It sounded all crispy- crunchy. My knee-jerk reaction was "pas possible!" (no way, I can't believe it!). It really did take me by surprise. He said, "si, si" (yes, yes). And he added, "What's really good is to eat these with a cold beer. But only when they're this fresh. Otherwise, you have to get the nut out." And with that, he ran away & quickly returned, putting me a handful of whole almonds (peeled) in my palm. "Here, take this. You seem to like almonds!"

There was a girl in the middle of paying for something while all this transpired, and without blinking, she reached into the crate, grabbed one & popped it into her mouth. I was a little shocked by her brashness, but I curiously watched her reaction at the same time. She said with a smile, "a little bitter....but yes, a beer would be great with these". And out the door she went.

It was my turn to try one, at the shop owner's insistance. It was surprisingly fresh tasting. Not as "almondy" as I was expecting. Definitely "wet" & moist & slightly bitter. I still couldn't get over eating that green casing. In fact, it's a strange concept to not only eat the green casing, but also, the shell itself. Today, it's all moist, but this is the same shell that eventually dries out & becomes light golden brown, as I had been accustomed to seeing back in the states.


I bought a small sac full to bring home. I wanted to share this almond taste test with Eric. We tried them, as recommended, with a beer. But not just any beer. It was a Belgian specialty brought from Brussels last week by some dear friends..... It was unanimous. Fresh almonds are a unique treat and they make for a very unique aperitif (before-dinner drink and appetizer). We couldn't eat them every day, but we're still glad to have made this discovery.


:/dma