Bali New Year’s Eve 2018, was one of the best ever ChillaxBBQ
I had an idea to cook something for Ruther’s 50th in Bali, so ordered in black pudding. It ended up as an NYE banquet, cooked by Marky Mark and me. So, yes, I am calling this out as an official ChillaxBBQ event.
This is BaliNew Year’s Eve 2018, ChillaxBBQ. Marky Mark and I battled through with limited utensils (AKA one blunt knife), no oven (AKA the villa bought us 2x BBQs) to bake, no chopping boards, and no clothes: hey let’s face it we had nothing.
The previous day I grabbed some spices from a local store. We ordered some meats, fish, fresh herbs, and veggies from the villa guys, bless them. They also made us 4 varying spice Sambals. Damned fine they were. I got creative and turned out a damned good mini ChillaxBBQ for our mates ahead of the ‘memorable’ firework display.
Here we jolly well go. New Year’s Eve 2018, ChillaxBBQ in Bali.
Not a bad little array of raw ingredients. We can absolutely get something going with this. This mis en place is so so fresh. The Galangal still smells of soil, it must have been dug up that day. Squeeze it and juice comes out. Amaze-balls freshness.The dynamic duo – pretty unconventional style in both the food prep and dress attire ha ha – bring it on!!!The boys from the villa did us proud with fresh banana leaves for wrapping the fish to protect and add Bali flavour, and also dried coconut husks for the BBQ itself. Memories of Jimbaran Bay flooding back to me now.The boys cleaned the fish too – the first time I have ever seen a fish filleted from the top of its head down. Just weird as you can’t easily pull out the bones when cooked. Anyways this is lime, shallot, chili, and garlic stuffed snapper.See what I mean – just weird. Fish has a split personality. Can see two sides of an argument and is beside itself…Next up is snapper stuffed with sambal heat #3 – mildest.Then two more snappers stuffed with Sambal heat #2. This was incredible. Smoky to the taste, and not so spicy. It was stellar. We use this for the pork later too.All wrapped up in little banana leaf coats – steam, char, flavour, and protect – all in one. This is going to be really good, I just know it!!!
We popped these on the grill in batches. Whilst we were away we had a cat burglar. As in literally. A feral jungle kitten broke into the kitchen, pulled a whole fish out of the pan, un-wrapped it from the banana leaf, and ran off with the whole fish. Little bugger!!!
ChillaxBBQ Head of Procurement comes in for an inspection, clearly having forgotten that you are supposed to suck your stomach IN when being photographed.Back to Sambal heat #3. Now tarted up/augmented with a load more lime juice, fresh lime, lemon grass, shallots, and crushed garlic. Now the marinade for the fresh prawns. So simple, and so incredibly delicious.We made a rough stock and boiled off the 1 kg pork belly until cooked. Sliced into the skin side to create little nuggets when crackled. Put the meat side down in the pan on top of Sambal heat #3 and whacked it in the BBQ as a quasi oven. We then boiled the sweetcorn off in the same stock. I then turned that stock into a quasi Tom Yam, adding some lime, chilis, lemon grass, garlic, chicken jelly, and shallots. Talk about using what you have to best advantage – triple use stock.Next up and now we really are pushing BBQ baking to the extreme. This is sous vide marinated steak, with black pudding and Serrano ham Beef Wellingtons. Puff pastry and egg wash on top. Baked in the BBQ for about 20-30 minutes. These came out just stunning. Smoky and cooked to perfection – a proud moment for Marky Mark and me. These were AMAZE-BALLS!!!Seriously – how good do these look? Baked in a BBQ and they come out looking like this. I’d order these again and again in any restaurant!The Ruthers girls clearly enjoying the food – having a moment in some shape or form…My one seemingly excited by the fare on offer, or she just broke wind – one of the two…How good do these look? First snappers up. The perfect BBQ char from the coconut husk and protection from the banana leaf. It flew off the plate – but wait it was snapper not flying fish ha ha! It was good!!!Cooking in pitch black, literally. A tiny wee torch to give us some idea if the stuff was cooked or not. Boy could we have done with the ChillaxBBQ kit from home – head torches are a must!!!Here is that amazing pork belly. Crackled up nicely. Juicy and moist. Sliced thinly – this was an absolute cracker. Just look at that – that char on the meat is from the Sambal – genius idea.A second lot of fish is up – but this is after the fireworks, so it was a slow-burn consumption dish. Still – looking damned good in my reckoning!!!And here is the prawns and sweetcorn – oh yes!!!
A job well done by Marky Mark and me this New Year’s Eve 2018, ChillaxBBQ in Bali. It was a bit like those surprise basket cooking competitions. Make the best of what you get given, and that is what we did this day.
4 types of fish. Sambal prawns. 2 types of sweetcorn. Roast pork belly. And of course, how can we forget our Beef, Black Pudding & Serrano Ham Wellingtons?
A feast fit for Kings, Queens, Princes, and Princesses. Happy New Year everyone and wish you all a spanking 2019 – ENJOY!!!
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