0:00:34 > 0:00:37'I'm two thirds of the way through my journey of discovery
0:00:37 > 0:00:41'through the Far East, and to date, I've been far from disappointed.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46'The street food in particular, which is so prevalent wherever I go, is fantastic.
0:00:46 > 0:00:53'Even things that look ordinary take on a new life and seem to be revealed to me all over again,
0:00:53 > 0:00:58'but now I've landed in Sri Lanka and I know I'm going to find things to amaze and delight me.'
0:01:01 > 0:01:06These are the iconic images of Sri Lankan fishing, to be found in most travel brochures,
0:01:06 > 0:01:11but there's another sort which is altogether different.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13I was privileged to go out with a local fishing community
0:01:13 > 0:01:16in an oruwa, the traditional Sri Lankan outrigger.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20And what brilliant fun it turned out to be.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24I know I'll have fun telling the fishermen of Padstow how successful
0:01:24 > 0:01:31this curious system is, jumping into the water to stop the fish darting out of the open end of the net.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36But the catch was good and we took a couple of these handsome parua fish back to cook the local way.
0:01:39 > 0:01:46Ranjani, a fisherman's wife, chops the fish into good sized chunks using this strange upturned blade.
0:01:46 > 0:01:52Then with some vinegar, water and a fair bit of turmeric, she sets it to stew.
0:01:52 > 0:01:58This dish is going to be layered with a sort of currified ratatouille that she makes in a separate pan
0:01:58 > 0:02:03using seasoned red onions, whole green chillies, seeds and all,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07some sliced garlic and ginger, all softened in coconut oil.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11I thought it was interesting to see her mix all the dry seasoning
0:02:11 > 0:02:14by hand before she began to fry it in another bowl.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17The tomatoes she put in towards the end so they wouldn't break up too much.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21When it's all cooked through, it's served on a large plate
0:02:21 > 0:02:25with alternate layers of fish pieces and vegetables.
0:02:25 > 0:02:32It's eaten with Sri Lankan red rice, which is highly nutritious, just simply boiled.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35The whole family dip in from the one dish and of course,
0:02:35 > 0:02:40you have to use your fingers and your right hand, never the left.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43I'd learnt already about this important piece of etiquette.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47It seems your left hand is retained for washing.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52Samoud, I just wondered if you could tell them that I've had a memorable day today.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55From the very first when we went out this morning,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58I didn't have much hope that we were gonna get the fish.
0:03:00 > 0:03:06But just watching them working, and watching the camaraderie and the way they all joined together.
0:03:09 > 0:03:15And then watching this curry, it's just been a really fabulous, memorable day to me.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17- Would you tell them?- Yep, yep.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19HE TRANSLATES
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Thank you very much.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33At the moment, I'm in the city of Galle,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35which is south of the capital, Colombo.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38And it's a place which has a strong colonial atmosphere.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41The Portuguese were the people who first turned the place
0:03:41 > 0:03:45into a major important town and they built their fort here.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50'But then the Dutch took over and their influence is still very strongly felt.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55'Everyone who comes here visits the ramparts and stares out across all the years of history.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59'But it's in the evening when, for me, the place really comes alive,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02'and I can go in search of local street cuisine.'
0:04:07 > 0:04:12The centre, Galle, is a good place to see the famous and incredibly cheap dishes of the country.
0:04:12 > 0:04:18These are hoppers, a pancake made with a fermented batter of rice flour, coconut milk
0:04:18 > 0:04:24and a dash of palm toddy, an alcoholic mixture which makes them slightly sour.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30They're cooked in individual cast iron woks, and a popular breakfast dish.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36Now this is the most famous street food of Sri Lanka, kothu roti.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40You can hear the clatter of it being made all over the town.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43First of all they fry up some diced cabbage
0:04:43 > 0:04:48and add leeks, eggs, chillies, salt and a mixture of curry leaves.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Now it's stirred around to cook out the egg.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58This is really a poor person's dish, but it's now becoming very popular
0:04:58 > 0:05:02with everyone else as well, especially those who stay out at night.
0:05:02 > 0:05:08This is chopped up roti bread and then a curry sauce, a bit more salt,
0:05:08 > 0:05:10and then he prepares for his culinary tattoo.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15As you walk down the street, you hear this Gatling gun clatter.
0:05:17 > 0:05:23Then he puts in some chunks of curried chicken which he breaks up and then it's done.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25All that's needed is lime juice.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33This is the sort of dish that would give the doner kebab a run for its money in Britain.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47This is a tea garden, and I remember as a boy
0:05:47 > 0:05:52being fascinated by pictures of exotic ladies dressed in costume,
0:05:52 > 0:05:59picking green leaves, and thought, how does that relate to those dark brown flakes inside the packet?
0:05:59 > 0:06:04But of course, once they're dried, they, like all leaves, turn black.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07This is what this island is renowned for.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12I'm told there is no subject that these laughing, chatting women don't discuss.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16Conversation and gossip is the force that gets the tea picked here.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27It was Thomas Lipton who had the idea of growing tea here when it was called Ceylon.
0:06:27 > 0:06:34He owned the equivalent of modern day supermarkets in the late 1800s and was very forward thinking.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39And he hit on this great idea of sort of promoting his shops in Glasgow, where he came from.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44He got a load of pigs and just herded them through the centre of Glasgow.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49And they were well-fed looking pigs, and they had this slogan on their backs saying,
0:06:49 > 0:06:54"I'm off to Thomas Lipton's, the best shop for Irish bacon."
0:06:56 > 0:07:00'Just to the East of Galle is the delightful island of Taprobane.
0:07:00 > 0:07:06'The original owner said, "It's the one spot which by its sublime beauty
0:07:06 > 0:07:09'"would fulfil my dreams and hold me there for life."
0:07:09 > 0:07:13'It's now owned by Geoffrey Dobbs.'
0:07:13 > 0:07:17I think it's the first time I've had to wade to somebody's house!
0:07:17 > 0:07:20Haha! Oh, it's fabulous.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25This house was built in the 1920s by a person called Count de Mornay.
0:07:25 > 0:07:31He came here with Sir Thomas Lipton, sort of built this sort of rather fantastical house here.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35Unbelievable. And what does it feel like to have your own island, then?
0:07:35 > 0:07:40Well, sometimes I can't really believe it, you know, sometimes I pinch myself.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44But when I wake up every morning and I look out to the South Pole...
0:07:44 > 0:07:47- Nothing in between...- Nothing between here and the South Pole.
0:07:47 > 0:07:54Geoffrey was here when the tsunami struck and it was very nearly a paradise lost.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57I was swimming in the sea, just on the other side of the island.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01And I experienced a very strong current.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06And, you know, there was none of this big wave which everybody... well, not in Weligama,
0:08:06 > 0:08:10but then I looked at the island and I was about 18 foot higher.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14So I thought, "Well, there's something very wrong at the moment."
0:08:14 > 0:08:17And then I was taken across the island and I landed up over there,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21between a palm tree and the top of that house,
0:08:21 > 0:08:26clinging on to one of these oruwas, which are these native outrigging boats.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30And for five minutes, I just hung on for dear life.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35And then this whole bay, which is the second biggest bay in Sri Lanka, just emptied of water.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38I mean, I go diving quite a lot, and I could see dive sites,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41I could have walked out to dive sites if I wanted to.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43- Unbelievable. - The tsunami's very brutal.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47It either killed you or left you alive. And I was lucky to be left alive.
0:08:47 > 0:08:54Well, all I can say is I admire your British understatement, saying you were lucky, you know.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59He asked if I'd like to stay for lunch. I was hoping he would.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Just tell me what's what here, then, Geoffrey, the curries?
0:09:02 > 0:09:07- OK, well this is a tamarind fish curry and the fish used is swordfish. - Uh-huh.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10This is a pineapple curry, which is a favourite of mine.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15- I had that last night. Lovely, that. - It's wonderful.- Yeah.- Then we've got some fried freshwater prawns.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20- They're as big as lobsters! - And then some snake gourd curry here.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23- I've seen those in the market. - Yeah, they're very long and thin.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25These look absolutely delicious.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27Don't they just?
0:09:27 > 0:09:32So tell me about Sri Lankan food, what it means to you, and why isn't it better known?
0:09:32 > 0:09:36I always find that odd, that you only eat Sri Lankan food in Sri Lanka.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40There are no restaurants, anywhere in the world you go to, you never seem...
0:09:40 > 0:09:46I mean, I often look for Sri Lankan restaurants and I can never find any.
0:09:46 > 0:09:52So I think it's one of these great hidden cuisines which is just waiting to be found out.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57And I think this is sort of a mixture between Thai food and Indian food.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00I mean, they use a lot of coconut in their cooking here.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04It's either fish or vegetable-based mostly, and there's a market about
0:10:04 > 0:10:08100 yards off the island where my chefs go to.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13And you just see what's the catch of the day and come home and cook it.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17If there's one ingredient I would single out as being an emblem
0:10:17 > 0:10:20of Sri Lankan cuisine, then it would be the coconut.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23It's in virtually everything, and the oil is produced
0:10:23 > 0:10:27by the ton at coconut oil factories like this one in Galle.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32I came here with Siboda, my interpreter, to see for myself how it was done.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41David's just asked me to have a go at this, you know, and I refused,
0:10:41 > 0:10:46cos, as he well knows, I'm accident prone and I'd lose probably at least three fingers.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48- At least!- I mean, look how close to his hand it goes.
0:10:48 > 0:10:54Just ask him, if he doesn't mind, has he ever had an accident with the knife?
0:10:54 > 0:10:56HE TRANSLATES
0:10:58 > 0:11:02- No, never.- Never?- Ah, right.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06"Even in the rainy days, I am doing this thing, no any accidents."
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Wow, unbelievable. Looks so dangerous.
0:11:15 > 0:11:16So strong!
0:11:16 > 0:11:21'Once they've been smashed open, they're dried over the husks of other coconuts.
0:11:21 > 0:11:27'And it's this process, I suspect, that will make you either love coconut oil or hate it,
0:11:27 > 0:11:29'because you can really taste the smokiness in it.'
0:11:31 > 0:11:36All this machinery would have been here when Ceylon was painted pink on my school atlas,
0:11:36 > 0:11:42and here, they're squeezing the coconut flesh to extract that essential oil.
0:11:42 > 0:11:49And that smoky coconut taste and aroma is all-pervading in most dishes and in the air.
0:11:51 > 0:11:52- Can I taste a bit?- Yeah, yeah.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00That's lovely. It's got a great taste.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01Yeah, it is, it is.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03- And it's good for your hair.- Really?
0:12:06 > 0:12:10- How you feel?- Well, it's very nice. What's it good for, though?
0:12:10 > 0:12:11Well, it's good for the dandruff.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Yeah.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16And it works on the white hair.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18- Gets rid of white hair?- Yeah.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20- So...- And for the stress.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23And for stress? Wonderful.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28I was just leaving and I just saw this up here, and apparently it was painted by the owner's son.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32I think it's really good, it's very succinct. In picture one,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35you've got a coconut farmer, and this geezer's come along
0:12:35 > 0:12:38and said, "I'll give you all this money for your coconut trees."
0:12:38 > 0:12:43In picture two, another guy's come along and said, "I want to buy your farm."
0:12:43 > 0:12:45In picture three, he's built houses on it.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49And there's his wife saying, "Go off to the market and buy some coconuts."
0:12:49 > 0:12:56And there he is in the market, and the price of coconuts has gone right up, and he's going, "No!"
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Well, this is a coconut dhal with tomato and curry leaves.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09While making this, it's a very, very comforting dish.
0:13:09 > 0:13:14I mean, all over the Indian subcontinent, you get dhals, and they're really designed
0:13:14 > 0:13:19to be a sort of foil, a nice, bland foil to some hot curry.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24But it's sort of, like, really reassuring food, and at the time I'm cooking this,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28the civil war in Sri Lanka is at a particularly vicious and nasty stage.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33And I think, well, wherever we've been, almost wherever we've been
0:13:33 > 0:13:37in South East Asia and in the subcontinent, there's been political trouble.
0:13:37 > 0:13:44And I sometimes think that people might feel I'm a bit naive, there I am talking about
0:13:44 > 0:13:47cooking when people are dying and all that sort of thing.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52But really what I believe is the sort of affirmation of food,
0:13:52 > 0:13:56its power to bring people together.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01And the fact that food is all about good times, even if there's terrible things going on all around you.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06Well, that's what I think, anyway. I put pandan leaves in now.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11I hope supermarkets will soon stock these, because it's such a good taste for curry.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13Now, coconut milk.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Pandan leaves and coconut, that's Sri Lanka.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21Well, a dhal is one thing. Well, that's just basically pulses boiled up with water.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25But what makes it totally special is the tarka, and that's what you stir in at the end.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30Basically you just fry, in this case, garlic and onion in coconut oil,
0:14:30 > 0:14:38and then add things like curry leaves, mustard seeds, cumin, more chilli, cinnamon,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42just throw it into the dhal at the last minute, it just makes it light up.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Fresh curry leaves, another emblem of Sri Lankan cuisine,
0:14:46 > 0:14:52then dried chilli, and nothing gets made here without cinnamon, the place is famous for it.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Give that all a bit of a stir.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56It's smelling like a spice shop.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00Now some cumin seeds, the very stuff of dhals.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Now mustard seed and ground coriander seeds.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10Grinding brings out the flavour and thickens the sauce. Finally, chopped tomatoes.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Well, this is about the most elaborate tarka I know.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19Normally it's just some hot oil and spices thrown in at the last minute.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24But I think that says a lot about Sri Lankan cuisine, it is very exotic.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30And now it's the bit I like, adding the tarka to the cooked lentils, the dhal.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Tarka basically means hot spiced oil.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Well, all it needs now is a bit of salt.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38Stir that in and that's it.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42It smells wonderful.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45This is one of those dishes that I cook over and over again at home.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48All you need is flatbread and a cold beer.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52The next morning, I went to Colombo.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55There'd been an attack on the town the night before.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59'Two small Tamil Tiger planes were shot down and crashed into various buildings.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04'For the people living in the capital, this was not particularly unusual.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07'There were soldiers everywhere and they didn't like a camera around.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10'We were told to put our camera away, but we told them
0:16:10 > 0:16:15'we're only interested in the food here, not military installations.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20'The fish sellers that stand on the roadside weren't short of business,
0:16:20 > 0:16:27'with superb mud crabs and wild freshwater prawns as big as lobsters from the lagoons.'
0:16:28 > 0:16:35Which brings me to this place, a Tamil restaurant, the New Yarl eating house, south of the city.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40It's famous for its chilli crab.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43It had an atmosphere of a working man's club.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47I say that because there wasn't a woman to be seen.
0:16:47 > 0:16:53I got the feeling that this was the Sri Lankan equivalent of us men finishing work and going to the pub,
0:16:53 > 0:16:57except that there was no alcohol here, but plenty of chilli crabs.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02The cooks live over the kitchen, which is one of the most rudimentary places I've ever set eyes on.
0:17:02 > 0:17:09To make this dish, they start off by chopping loads of garlic, red onions - always red onions -
0:17:09 > 0:17:13and pandan leaves, cooked in coconut oil, of course.
0:17:13 > 0:17:19Then they put in fennel and cumin seeds and what looks like a bucketload of chilli powder.
0:17:19 > 0:17:25They do like it hot here. It's let down with a drop of water, and now the crab.
0:17:25 > 0:17:31Blue swimmer crabs, chopped up to take on the flavour of those spices.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35This is a far cry from our neat little shells packed with brown
0:17:35 > 0:17:38and white crab meat and eaten with salad and brown bread and butter.
0:17:38 > 0:17:44I got chatting to a young local chap called Savin, a journalist.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46I have to give you this, because it's got the roe.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50- The roe.- And I think anyone who knows crab, the roe is the stuff.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56That is unbelievable.
0:17:56 > 0:18:02I mean that, just that little bit of chilli just brings the sweetness out, it's so sweet.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04I mean, these are beautiful crabs, great flavour.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06I don't think I've tasted better.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09You're quite a sort of smart geezer, really,
0:18:09 > 0:18:15Savin, but I mean, would sort of people like you, well educated, come to a restaurant like this?
0:18:15 > 0:18:19It is a bit strange. I mean, I discovered this about a year ago.
0:18:19 > 0:18:25- Yeah.- And it's not that common for people, I mean for Colombo people, to come in and eat here.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29- Yeah.- I mean, you will see in the evenings a fair string of BMWs
0:18:29 > 0:18:32- pull up, pull their shutters down and ask for the takeaway.- Right.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36And the crab is taken, wrapped up and thrown into the car.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41Not commonly do people sort of come in and sit down, depending... Younger people will, though.
0:18:41 > 0:18:47Savin, as you know, I'm a bit of a chef, cos your mother knew all about my dog, Chalkie.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49She spent a bit of time in England, like I did.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52She followed you in your adventures to France.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55And the first thing she said when she heard that I was doing a bit
0:18:55 > 0:18:58of filming with Rick Stein, she asked, "How's the dog?"
0:18:58 > 0:19:01- And we learnt that...- Aah!
0:19:01 > 0:19:05Well, that's the thing about food, you see, it's a great uniter all round the world.
0:19:05 > 0:19:11But when I leave, what impressions do you think I should take with me
0:19:11 > 0:19:14about the food of Sri Lanka?
0:19:14 > 0:19:16The food is incredibly diverse.
0:19:16 > 0:19:21The Sri Lankan food encompasses this, it encompasses the whole range of South Indian breads,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25idlies and dhosas, as well as Muslim. Muslims are a large part of the population.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30Their food is somewhat distinct - biryanis...plus the range of Sri Lankan food.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34- And, well, you're a seafood chef as far as I knew it.- Yeah, absolutely.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37And Sri Lanka is a great place for seafood.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41And while Thai food and Malaysian food are sometimes more famous,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44the message any Sri Lankan would want you to come away with
0:19:44 > 0:19:47is that Sri Lankan food, on its day, is as good as anything.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51I mean, it can go toe to toe with any other cuisine in Asia.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54It really can, I mean, I believe it can, anyway.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56Do you know something? He's right.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14I suppose I'm a country boy at heart, because I grew up
0:20:14 > 0:20:18on a farm in Oxfordshire and I know something about cows and milking.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23I love the sweet smell of them in the early morning when they come to be milked,
0:20:23 > 0:20:27but this is something way out of my experience.
0:20:30 > 0:20:31These are water buffalo.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35We were strongly warned to be respectful and keep our distance.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39That's fine, but I wanted to see this, because one of the things
0:20:39 > 0:20:44I found on my journey here was a thick, creamy curd, made with water buffalo milk.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54I'm a little nervous and speaking in slightly hushed tones. I feel a bit like David Attenborough,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56because these water buffaloes are very dangerous.
0:20:56 > 0:21:02They kill more people in African game reserves than all the lions around.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06And I have to keep a hushed voice and move very gently,
0:21:06 > 0:21:11because if they're disturbed at all, A, they might charge,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14but B, they won't give up their milk.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16But I just feel so privileged.
0:21:16 > 0:21:21I mean, this is like a time immemorial scene behind me.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26You know, blow all those sort of modern milking parlours, this is the real thing.
0:21:26 > 0:21:33And, of course, this is buffalo milk that makes mozzarella, but here, it makes the most fantastic curd
0:21:33 > 0:21:37which you eat with what they call treacle, but which is actually a palm syrup,
0:21:37 > 0:21:42which is totally wonderful.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46And why are they so aggressive before milking and calm afterwards?
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Ah, right. Before the milking,
0:21:52 > 0:21:58over the night time, the little one cannot go near the mother.
0:22:00 > 0:22:06So they're full of milk, so when we take off the milk, after the milking, she feel relaxed.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09- So she might be in some discomfort before?- Yeah.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Full up with milk.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15- Yeah, that's the thing, yeah. - Ah, got it. That's lovely.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20Real life always gets in the way of pastoral bliss.
0:22:20 > 0:22:27Saboud has just told me that the biggest threat to this buffalo farming are cattle rustlers.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32Apparently in the last six months, the farmer has lost ten water buffaloes.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36And these rustlers are really skilled, because they're very aggressive,
0:22:36 > 0:22:42these water buffaloes, but they know how to, even the most aggressive, get them into a truck
0:22:42 > 0:22:46and despatch them within about five minutes and then sell them as meat.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Buffalo meat fetches a really good price.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51But the other thing is, the local police,
0:22:51 > 0:22:56because there's so much money in the buffaloes, are susceptible to bribes.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00So they just let them go straight through, into Colombo, I guess.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08'I was so intrigued, with this curd, I had to see how the farmer's wife made it.'
0:23:10 > 0:23:12She gently heats up fresh milk.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16I can remember my mother doing something very similar with fresh cow's milk,
0:23:16 > 0:23:21except she was making junket, which as a young boy, I loved.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27This uses a culture, which she takes from the previous day's batch,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31and that goes to work straight away on the warm milk.
0:23:31 > 0:23:37And it sets as it cools in these shallow earthenware dishes, so it becomes more like a yoghurt, really.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44I love this so much, especially as they serve it with treacle.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48That's the sap of the kittle palm.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53It's the perfect Far Eastern equivalent of the famous Greek breakfast, yoghurt and honey.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03I came this morning to see and be part of this rural idyll, and it was a delight.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07But then I went away with a heavy heart, having been told
0:24:07 > 0:24:10about the rustling and butchering of the animals to make a quick buck.
0:24:10 > 0:24:16If the police turn a blind eye, then scenes like this could well be a distant memory,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20and the world would definitely be sadder for it.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29This is a first for me, and it's a spice I've used all the time I've been cooking.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32But I've never seen it in its raw state before.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34It's cinnamon.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38It was more important than tea here, a spice that everyone wanted.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Countries went to war over it.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46I suppose "inconsequential" would be the way I'd describe watching that.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51It's a lovely smell, but to think that one of the world's most important spices,
0:24:51 > 0:24:57certainly the most important spice in Sri Lanka, cinnamon, should be down to,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01well, something I probably did as a little boy, whittling a stick.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05In fact, the bit we cook with is the soft inner bark.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09I imagine that's incredibly difficult to do.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11I could never master it.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16He's trying to get them off in one long sort of roll, and apparently,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20there's five grades and the tighter the roll, the higher the grade.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Grade one is just as tight as your little finger and it just gets
0:25:23 > 0:25:28ever bigger to grade five, which is just a bit bigger than your thumb.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33I mean, this is wonderful.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37As a cook, I've been using cinnamon for about 40 years, I suppose,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40just taking it out of a jar and snipping a bit off.
0:25:40 > 0:25:47I never realised there was so much skill going into packing these lengths of cinnamon,
0:25:47 > 0:25:52apparently three and a half feet long, as tightly as possible.
0:25:52 > 0:25:58To celebrate this great spice, I thought I'd cook a cashew nut curry back at home.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01So I'm making Sri Lankan roasted curry powder.
0:26:01 > 0:26:08Now, you can buy it quite easily, but I do think it's really special to make it, because when you roast
0:26:08 > 0:26:13those seeds, which are cardamom, cumin, coriander, cloves,
0:26:13 > 0:26:18fennel, fenugreek, black peppercorns, and black mustard seeds,
0:26:18 > 0:26:23when you roast them, you just accentuate the aromatic qualities of them.
0:26:23 > 0:26:28In addition to that, I'm gonna add a couple of other ingredients, some cinnamon.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30Every Sri Lankan curry has cinnamon in it.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35And now some Kashmiri chillies, yeah, I'm gonna roast those too.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39And finally, and quite interestingly, about a tablespoon of rice.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43The reason I'm doing that is because the rice, when it gets all ground up,
0:26:43 > 0:26:49acts a bit like flour and will thicken anything that you stir this curry powder into.
0:26:49 > 0:26:57That's just getting very, very hot and smelling absolutely aromatic in the extreme.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02That's fine. Now, the next thing to do is to grind all that up.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05Finding something to lift the pan off.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17So, I use a coffee grinder for this.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22Incidentally, you can use it for spice after you've used it for coffee,
0:27:22 > 0:27:26but I wouldn't suggest using coffee again after that,
0:27:26 > 0:27:30cos your coffee will always taste of coriander!
0:27:30 > 0:27:34Not very good with these machines.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39This roasted curry powder has got such a depth of flavour,
0:27:39 > 0:27:44but for this dish, I'm going to really accentuate the cinnamon.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47And now some chopped garlic.
0:27:47 > 0:27:53So we've got some grated ginger, hot green chillies, lemongrass, turmeric powder,
0:27:53 > 0:27:59my lovely roasted Sri Lankan curry powder, pandan leaves,
0:27:59 > 0:28:01a whole tin of coconut milk,
0:28:01 > 0:28:07and of course, very important, curry leaves, so let's go with those.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11I let them soften down and wilt into the sauce.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15Fresh curry leaves are essential - completely disregard the dried ones.
0:28:15 > 0:28:22Now some stick beans cut in half, good bite-size pieces. And next, cashews.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Of course, over in Sri Lanka, they have fresh cashew nuts,
0:28:25 > 0:28:31which are absolutely delicious, but I was so keen on the dish, I love cashew nuts anyway,
0:28:31 > 0:28:36terribly fattening, of course, that I just thought, well, I had to make it myself over here
0:28:36 > 0:28:40and just soaking them, which worked perfectly, just to soften them a little bit.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47That was palm sugar I put in, and for the sharp element, the juice of a lime.
0:28:47 > 0:28:54Again, the laws of sweet, sour, spicy and salty apply to all of South East Asia.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57And finally, the salt.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01You don't need meat in this sort of dish.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06Curries like this are substantial enough and the backbone of Sri Lankan cuisine.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09In fact, Sri Lanka is heaven for vegetarians.
0:29:11 > 0:29:18One of the best places to try them is this hotel just outside Colombo. It's quite famous.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23In fact, David Lean chose it as one of the locations for Bridge on the River Kwai.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34The chef here, Chef Publis, is a celebrity in his own right.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38He has his own television cookery show and they film it on the beach,
0:29:38 > 0:29:44so I thought, what a good idea, an opportunity to learn from the master.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48So, here we are out on the beach, about to cook some devilled prawns.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53But the best laid plans of mice and men, it's too windy.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56They wouldn't dream of cooking out here if it was as windy as that,
0:29:56 > 0:29:58and I'm reminded of the good old days.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01I think it was Keith Floyd who first started cooking outdoors.
0:30:01 > 0:30:07Every time he'd be cooking outdoors, normally, there'd be too much wind,
0:30:07 > 0:30:12or you'd get crows coming and dive bombing, trying to nick the prawns, all that sort of stuff.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14And it just looked so silly, but I just thought
0:30:14 > 0:30:17it was such a lovely beach, it would be a nice thing to do.
0:30:17 > 0:30:23But no, it's not to be, so we're going to have to move everything back to the kitchen.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29So, how do you like to cook the seafood, generally?
0:30:29 > 0:30:32Generally, seafood, not long life.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35- Yeah.- Two, three minutes. Cooked.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39- Yeah.- You know, prawns? Not hard.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41- Just short time. - Yeah, the short time.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45I agree entirely.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Prawns should never be overcooked.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51OK, he starts off by frying red onions.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56Come to think of it, I haven't seen a common or garden ordinary white onion here at all.
0:30:56 > 0:31:02Then pandan leaves, cinnamon, garlic, dried chilli, salt,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05and some finely chopped tomato.
0:31:08 > 0:31:12Now these plump prawns, which have been coated in powdered turmeric.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15They go in and get stir fried and tossed around with everything else.
0:31:15 > 0:31:20And as Chef Publis says, they shouldn't be cooked for too long.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23Right, now some larger pieces of onion,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26because they have to have a crunch, and fresh green peppers.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31They look like chillies, but they're not.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36Again, these have to be crunchy on the palate. Finally, quartered whole tomatoes.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40Well, this is a really simple dish and I'm quite enthusiastic about it,
0:31:40 > 0:31:46because I've recently been doing a lot of dishes where they've been using chilli paste, curry pastes,
0:31:46 > 0:31:50and here, everything is just simple ingredients.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55And of course, it's all very quick to cook, which is absolutely right for prawns.
0:31:55 > 0:32:01I'm particularly keen on these capsicums that he's using in there, because I haven't seen that before.
0:32:01 > 0:32:07I mean, it's either chilli or nothing, so having a few pepper tastes in there will be really nice.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10And of course, chef doesn't forget the juice of a lime.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14Chef Publis, is this typical of Sri Lankan cooking?
0:32:14 > 0:32:17This is typical Sri Lankan cooking, yes.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20- I taste? You taste? - Yes, please.- Yes, you?
0:32:20 > 0:32:22- Oh, no, you taste first.- Ah, OK.
0:32:24 > 0:32:25Oh, that looks good.
0:32:28 > 0:32:29Can I try one?
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Best, really taste.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37- You try them.- Yeah, love to.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39Thank you very much.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47- Best. Very good.- Thank you.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51This is classy food, cooked in less than ten minutes,
0:32:51 > 0:32:56and chef Publis presents it with a bit of nouvelle panache.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59And how long have you been cooking for, chef?
0:32:59 > 0:33:0153 years working in this hotel.
0:33:01 > 0:33:051956, I joined this hotel.
0:33:06 > 0:33:13Well, I tell you, the food here is the best hotel food I've had probably on my whole trip.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15- Last night...- Thank you, thank you.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18..I had some of the best curries I've ever tasted.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20Yeah, thank you, sir, thank you.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22And this ain't bad, too.
0:33:22 > 0:33:23Yeah.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29My visit to Sri Lanka was all too short, and once again,
0:33:29 > 0:33:33it was time to move on, this time to Bali in Indonesia.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40I've just arrived in Bali and this is Kuta Beach.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44It's lovely, just enormously long white sand,
0:33:44 > 0:33:48and for the Australians, this is like Magaluf or Benidorm.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50I love Australia.
0:33:50 > 0:33:56I love everything about it, but the one problem is it's rather far away from everywhere else.
0:33:56 > 0:34:02So Bali, and Kuta Beach in particular, is the closest foreign place for them.
0:34:02 > 0:34:10And so I think that, more than anything, was why the bomb in 2002 was such an enormous shock.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Of course, there were many British fatalities too, but the reason why it was such
0:34:14 > 0:34:19a shock to the world is that Bali is such a beautiful place,
0:34:19 > 0:34:24and the Balinese are amongst the most peace-loving people on earth.
0:34:28 > 0:34:34OK, admission time. When I saw that wonderful Rogers and Hammerstein musical, South Pacific,
0:34:34 > 0:34:39I thought that haunting song, Bali Ha'i, was about the island of Bali.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41And funnily enough, I still do,
0:34:41 > 0:34:48because it evokes a type of paradise that we all strive for in our minds.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52And although 50 years on, I know that the island in that famous song
0:34:52 > 0:34:55was an entirely different place, the sentiment is still the same.
0:34:55 > 0:35:02But my reason for being here is for the special food, and it doesn't come more special than this.
0:35:09 > 0:35:14I'm told this wall is called Aling Aling, and it's actually designed
0:35:14 > 0:35:20to suck in all the bad spirits that strangers might be bringing into the compound.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24And there's well over 30 people living here, so it's essential
0:35:24 > 0:35:28to sort of rid unknown people of bad thoughts.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32I must say, I could do with one of those at the entrance to the restaurant.
0:35:35 > 0:35:40'Out of all the places I've been to on my odyssey, Bali is the most spiritual.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43'Even the process of cooking the pig is blessed.'
0:35:46 > 0:35:49That is fabulous. I just know, looking at that, that I will never
0:35:49 > 0:35:54taste more succulent or crispy crackling and pork in my life.
0:35:54 > 0:36:01And watching it, I just thought, when I was setting out on this journey to South East Asia,
0:36:01 > 0:36:04that this is the sort of thing I was thinking of.
0:36:04 > 0:36:11Wood fire, whole pig, rather hot and sweaty, lovely aromas.
0:36:11 > 0:36:17I mean this barbi-gooling is it, barbi means pig and gooling means tumbling or rolling.
0:36:17 > 0:36:23I mean, his skill is marvellous, I'm just watching him just dampening down the flames, cos of course,
0:36:23 > 0:36:26pork is very fatty and it could just all flare up.
0:36:26 > 0:36:32And it sort of reminds me more than anything of Tudor England, the roast beef of England,
0:36:32 > 0:36:36where some guy like this would be right up to the spit, turning it
0:36:36 > 0:36:42and getting incredibly hot, as indeed he is, just to see that the thing was cooked perfectly.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47There's no part of life, it seems to me,
0:36:47 > 0:36:52that's exempt from a religious offering or two, even making the stuffing.
0:36:52 > 0:36:57It's made with shrimp paste, galangal, salam leaves, coriander and chillies.
0:36:57 > 0:36:58- Can I try?- Yeah.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06That's very nice. Wow!
0:37:06 > 0:37:09- Very hot.- Very hot?- Oh!
0:37:11 > 0:37:17What he's doing here is cutting one leg off and using that as an offering to the Gods.
0:37:17 > 0:37:24And it's quite usual in Bali to offer a bit of food to the Gods before you yourself eat.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27It's just an insurance policy, really.
0:37:42 > 0:37:49What I'm learning about Balinese culture is incredible intermingling of religion and food.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53I mean, this is almost like a religious ceremony in itself.
0:37:53 > 0:37:58And it's a new sort of dimension to food to me, the sort of religiousness of it.
0:37:58 > 0:38:03But just thinking, imagine in the Church of England, if you went into church
0:38:03 > 0:38:07and you had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding as part of the ceremony.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09I'd be in there every Sunday.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14Look how thin that crackling is.
0:38:14 > 0:38:19People in the past have asked me why I don't make a series on vegetarian food.
0:38:19 > 0:38:20Well, it's because of this!
0:38:20 > 0:38:26I feel with a lot of cookery programmes, myself included, that it's too much about the recipes,
0:38:26 > 0:38:34Some of this goes in, some of that, stir fry, steam, whatever, and not enough about appetite, about hunger,
0:38:34 > 0:38:38about the absolute anticipation of watching that pig being cooked
0:38:38 > 0:38:44over that smoky fire and the realisation that the skin
0:38:44 > 0:38:47was gonna get ever crisper and ever more delicious.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49So, here's to appetite.
0:38:49 > 0:38:55And to me, at the moment, I'm thinking this will be about 10 on the Richter scale.
0:38:57 > 0:39:02Oh, excuse me, that is the best bit of crackling I've ever tasted.
0:39:02 > 0:39:03You can taste the smoke in there.
0:39:03 > 0:39:09Actually, they smoke it over coffee wood to give it really, really dense, aromatic quality.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13And I can taste it in there, it's delicious.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15Gosh, it was good.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18The meat was moist and succulent and the stuffing,
0:39:18 > 0:39:23well, it went really well, although it was searingly hot.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28If you're a coffee lover and you think you've tried everything,
0:39:28 > 0:39:32a visit to Bali can come up with a few surprises.
0:39:32 > 0:39:37There's a coffee here that practically defies description.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41Well, this is a civet cat, and what I'm giving him to eat
0:39:41 > 0:39:43is what he eats all the time, which is coffee beans.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47Some very bright Balinese person worked out that if
0:39:47 > 0:39:53the entire diet of a civet cat was coffee beans, then they must know a thing or two about the coffee bean.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57And indeed they do, because they always select
0:39:57 > 0:40:03only the very best beans and they reject the acidic ones or the overripe ones.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08And then, well, out they come as, erm, civet cat poo.
0:40:08 > 0:40:15And this Balinese person noticed that actually, the coffee bean is only partly digested.
0:40:15 > 0:40:21This is the husk, and inside, the bean is retained in its perfect form.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26So, don't think that drinking Balinese coffee
0:40:26 > 0:40:31from, um, civet cat poo might taste of anything.
0:40:31 > 0:40:37It only tastes of pure beans, and it is the best coffee known to man and also the most expensive.
0:40:37 > 0:40:44Once they're collected, the beans are roasted and ground in the same way as any other coffee bean.
0:40:44 > 0:40:49I spoke to the cat's owner, who knew all about the subtleties of cat poo coffee.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52The civet cat is very clever.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54They smell that coffee is different.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56So, the best bean, it has different smell.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00So, no human that can do it, and no computer that can do it.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04They have very good nose, and then they smell different, and then they ate it.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08But they didn't bite it, they just swallowed the bean. They ate the skin only.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10So it's very clever animal.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13So we think we've got these people that can judge coffee
0:41:13 > 0:41:18and wine and everything like that, but a simple little civet cat can do a better job.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20- Yeah. Haha!- I love it.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23Civet cat make a good business right now!
0:41:23 > 0:41:26Well, I suppose this is the Chateau Petrus of coffee.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31I mean, up to £50 a cup, poo poo coffee.
0:41:31 > 0:41:32It's smelling good.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39Astounding.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42I kid you not, it's delicious.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55That evening, I went to a place called Lebih in the south of the island.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57It was by chance that we happened to pass by on the way back
0:41:57 > 0:42:01to our hotel, and we noticed the fishing boats coming in.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05In keeping with tradition, prayers and offerings are always being made
0:42:05 > 0:42:08to ensure the safety and success of any enterprise.
0:42:08 > 0:42:16This beach is renowned for its fishing, and looks unusual because it's made from volcanic black sand.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Apparently, this is a really good catch. I must say, I love the look of these fish.
0:42:20 > 0:42:21They're really colourful.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26I don't quite know, obviously, what species they are, but they look like
0:42:26 > 0:42:31snappers and porgies, and because of their colour, I should think they're probably coral fish.
0:42:31 > 0:42:37I'm told this is the best of the lot, it's called a crazy fish.
0:42:37 > 0:42:43I should think they'll fetch some really good money in the swanky hotels up and down the coast.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47Personally, there's some nice little satay restaurants round the corner,
0:42:47 > 0:42:49so I'm hoping I'll get some of these for supper.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53'I went with my interpreter Doui to a hut on the beach,
0:42:53 > 0:42:55'where a young woman split open our Crazy Fish,
0:42:55 > 0:43:00'smeared the insides with a paste made with, as far as I could tell,
0:43:00 > 0:43:06'lime juice, fish sauce, galangal, turmeric - fresh turmeric, I think - and chilli.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10'It worked really well and of course, this is by far the best way to cook them,
0:43:10 > 0:43:12'just charcoal grilled.
0:43:12 > 0:43:17'Actually, I've tried this at home with a bass over a barbeque, and it's really good.'
0:43:19 > 0:43:20Crazy fish of Bali.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24'She also gave us a spicy sambal, which is a sort of pickle.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27'I think this had been fried in coconut oil.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31'It was mainly chillies, shrimp paste and onions.'
0:43:31 > 0:43:35It's delicious, this fish, absolutely.
0:43:35 > 0:43:36It's firm, firm texture.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.- Beautiful.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41- Have you ever tried this fish before? - Crazy fish?
0:43:41 > 0:43:43No, no. But what do you think?
0:43:43 > 0:43:45Well, I like it. It's delicious.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50Worth every penny of the four quid that it cost for the both of them.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52Yeah, true.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56The director will now say, "How much would that cost in your restaurant?"
0:43:56 > 0:43:58To which I'd reply, "Go away."
0:44:00 > 0:44:03- 75 quid.- Yes, thank you, David.
0:44:08 > 0:44:13I was really taken with the produce on offer at my hotel, which I found out came from
0:44:13 > 0:44:17their own organic vegetable garden and grown by their gardener Sageeta.
0:44:20 > 0:44:25'The village and pastures are part of the foothills of Mount Agung,
0:44:25 > 0:44:28'a volcano, and the island's most holy mountain.
0:44:28 > 0:44:33'This makes the soil very fertile and perfect for growing rice
0:44:33 > 0:44:36'and a huge variety of herbs and vegetables.
0:44:36 > 0:44:42'I was invited up to Sageeta's village to meet his family and join them for a traditional meal.'
0:44:42 > 0:44:44This is my house.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46It's a lovely house.
0:44:46 > 0:44:47Welcome to my house.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50- Hello.- This is my father-in-law.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52Very nice to meet you.
0:44:52 > 0:44:59This is my mother-in-law, with my niece and the third son, our son.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03- How do you do?- The sister-in-law, our sister-in-law.- Ah, great, good.
0:45:03 > 0:45:10'Sageeta's wife is making a bubur masak, which, to you and me, is a sort of porridge made with
0:45:10 > 0:45:14'freshly squeezed coconut milk, salam leaves, which are pandan leaves,
0:45:14 > 0:45:21'ginger, lemongrass and water. It's a popular Indonesian dish and a daily favourite for many.
0:45:21 > 0:45:26'You can buy it at any market or street stall, but I'm about to taste
0:45:26 > 0:45:33'a freshly made, home cooked one, and to go with it, Sageeta's wife makes a spicy peanut paste.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37'She grinds together a mixture of fried shallots, garlic and chilli
0:45:37 > 0:45:41'on this traditional mortar and pestle, made out of volcanic rock.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43'Plenty of that in Bali.'
0:45:47 > 0:45:51- CHANTING IN BACKGROUND - What's that?- That is Hindu people,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54we pray three times in the day.
0:45:54 > 0:46:01In the morning at 6 o'clock, in the midday and in the afternoons also, in the afternoon, around 6 o'clock.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04I see, it's very atmospheric.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08'The rugged texture of the volcanic stone helps to grind down
0:46:08 > 0:46:11'even troublesome ingredients like peanuts.'
0:46:11 > 0:46:18I've got a particular affinity to this bubur because I virtually have what is called congee.
0:46:18 > 0:46:23It's the same thing all over South East Asia, it's like rice porridge. I always have it for breakfast.
0:46:23 > 0:46:29Some of the other members of the crew laugh at me and have eggs and bacon and stuff, but I love it.
0:46:29 > 0:46:34And particularly if you've had one too many beers the night before, it's quite settling.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37And actually, you can have it just with this peanut sauce,
0:46:37 > 0:46:41but you can add chilli and lots of other little bits and bits.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Deep fried onion, something with a bit of crunch.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48Occasionally, I like half a boiled egg on top.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53So, how often would you eat bubur, then?
0:46:53 > 0:46:58Er, bubur, it's an important food for me in Bali.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00- Yeah.- We get it for breakfast.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03- For breakfast. - For the breakfast, yes.
0:47:03 > 0:47:08- Most days, would you have? - Er, no, sometimes we change.- OK.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12'The spicy peanut paste is now transferred to a pan
0:47:12 > 0:47:18'and loosened with enough water to bring together the flavours of the peanuts, garlic and chillies.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23'Pastes or sambals like this accompany every dish in this part of the world.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26'The pan is then placed on the heat and infused with even more
0:47:26 > 0:47:30'aromatic ingredients, like kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass.
0:47:30 > 0:47:35'Before serving, Sageeta squeezes in the juice of half a lime.'
0:47:38 > 0:47:41Now, we are ready to eating.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43First, we put the bubur...
0:47:43 > 0:47:49- RAIN FALLING IN BACKGROUND - Just as well we're under the roof!
0:47:50 > 0:47:54Sageeta is a great believer in the medicinal properties of food.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58He's even created a special diet for his wife.
0:47:58 > 0:48:04To go with the bubur, he serves chicken stock followed by the aromatic peanut paste.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06Now for some additional ingredients.
0:48:06 > 0:48:11Cooked chicken pieces, sliced celery herb, which I'm told has many medicinal qualities,
0:48:11 > 0:48:17fresh shoots from broad beans and slices of shallow fried aubergines,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19which give any dish a touch of luxury.
0:48:19 > 0:48:24The whole thing is crowned with a final sprinkling of fried shallots.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31Well, I must say, this knocks all the hotel congees...buburs, buburs?
0:48:31 > 0:48:34- Bubur?- Bubur.
0:48:34 > 0:48:39..buburs I've had into a cocked hat. It's just, I mean, it's the perfect way to break your fast.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42It's just gentle, it's fragrant, it's sort of...
0:48:42 > 0:48:48It's easy on you. And I guarantee if I was to take that home and give it to a nutritionist and say,
0:48:48 > 0:48:53"What do you think of that?", they'd have said, "There's everything you could want."
0:48:53 > 0:48:55The Balinese have been eating it for centuries.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58No wonder they're so happy and healthy.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03A little further East on the island, they hold
0:49:03 > 0:49:07regular ceremonial gatherings, unique only to that region.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10It's something which engages the entire community,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13because the preparation is very labour intensive.
0:49:13 > 0:49:19Everything is carefully controlled, right down to the balance of flavours.
0:49:19 > 0:49:24Well, nothing, I think, could emphasise more the importance of food and religion
0:49:24 > 0:49:28than this community ceremony, which is called a megibung.
0:49:28 > 0:49:34And this is a banjar hall, and banjar is just the local community.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37And what they're preparing here is a lawar.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41There's satays going on over there, there's rice further over,
0:49:41 > 0:49:43sambals over there, but this lawar interests me.
0:49:43 > 0:49:49It's like, I suppose you could describe it as a salad, but it's actually
0:49:49 > 0:49:53a mixture of...I've just taken down a few of the salad ingredients.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56Long beans, star fruit leaf, fern leaf.
0:49:56 > 0:49:58But it's a mixture also of pork.
0:49:58 > 0:50:04Now, there's cooked pork meat in there and pork skin,
0:50:04 > 0:50:05but raw pork blood.
0:50:05 > 0:50:12And that guy in the stripe there is hired by the village because he's an expert in mixing the lawar,
0:50:12 > 0:50:18not only in the way he does it, but also in the quantities of everything.
0:50:18 > 0:50:24I've just had a word with him, and I said, "Well, how come that there's raw pork blood? Do you not cook it?"
0:50:24 > 0:50:31And he said, "No, no, because it's mixed with the sambal and the chilli cooks the raw blood."
0:50:31 > 0:50:35But also, you have to drink plenty of this with it,
0:50:35 > 0:50:40which is tua, which also helps the digestion of that raw pork blood.
0:50:41 > 0:50:47- Karumba!- Jan, jan.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52"Jan" means good, according to the head man around here, Nada.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56Megibung is the name of how we are eating together.
0:50:56 > 0:51:02And this all preparation, it is in conjunction with all of the ceremonial feast.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06Whatever ceremony that we would like to have,
0:51:06 > 0:51:09all of the members of the community will prepare this type of food.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11So you always eat when you have a ceremony?
0:51:11 > 0:51:15Yes. Exactly. And then the way of how we are eating it, Megibung...
0:51:15 > 0:51:17Megibung.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21- ..there will be one plate of rice... - Yeah.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23..that will be enough for eight people.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25It must be eight.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29The reasons why eight, because of eight representing of the eight
0:51:29 > 0:51:35- cardinal points which is representing the character of the Almighty God. - Wow.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40Community in this country is just everything.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43'So much so, that they never move.
0:51:43 > 0:51:49'They belong to their banjar, which can be as many as 30 families, and that's it for life.
0:51:49 > 0:51:55'The megibung lunch was finally ready, and everyone sat down and began tucking in.'
0:51:55 > 0:52:00One thing I've really learnt about being here is just how important food is to everybody.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02I don't think I've ever been anywhere
0:52:02 > 0:52:06where it's such an absolutely central part of life.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11And that's the way food should be in my view, so I'm very, very happy
0:52:11 > 0:52:15to have witnessed it, feel very privileged to be sitting down
0:52:15 > 0:52:21with these excellent people, eating this, well, actually, very, very nice...
0:52:23 > 0:52:25What's it called? Mega...?
0:52:25 > 0:52:28- Megibung.- Megibung.
0:52:28 > 0:52:30THEY ALL APPLAUD
0:52:36 > 0:52:41'I don't really like to spend too long away from the sea, but I was surprised that
0:52:41 > 0:52:49'the fishermen here came from Java, so I was told by Heinz Von Hultzon, a chef who's made his life here.'
0:52:49 > 0:52:52How come the Balinese aren't fishing here? Why is it the Javanese?
0:52:52 > 0:52:58The Balinese are not explorers. Evil spirit, all the bad things
0:52:58 > 0:53:03lives out in the ocean, so the ashes of the dead, they go out onto the beach.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05The people, they try to stay away.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08Probably 75% of the Balinese can't even swim.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12Heinz was here to buy fish for his restaurant,
0:53:12 > 0:53:16but typically of the Swiss, he was awfully hard to please.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19That looks really nice, Heinz.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23This is fantastic. This is what we want every day, just caught, clear eyes.
0:53:23 > 0:53:28- Yeah.- The slime is still on, the meat is firm, the fish still has rigor mortis.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30- Yeah.- That's the way we wanna buy them.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32So many people, they come and look at the gills.
0:53:32 > 0:53:37- Gills, they can change colour within half an hour. This one already dark. - Yeah.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41If you would have seen these gills half an hour ago, they would be a lot redder.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44That does look nice. These look nice and fresh. What are these?
0:53:44 > 0:53:45That's a russ. We don't want.
0:53:45 > 0:53:51- We better don't talk about.- Why? - They're no good eating. The meat is brown, it's a grass-eating fish.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54It's like russ in the UK, only good for fish soup.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58Now this again, on the contrary, this is what you want.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00Cuttlefish, that looks almost alive!
0:54:00 > 0:54:06- It is still alive. Look at this, when you touch, you see when you touch it, you see the pigment?- Yeah, yeah.
0:54:06 > 0:54:11- How they still change the colour? - That's a lovely fish.- You know what's good about this one?
0:54:11 > 0:54:14You don't even need to cook them, you just warm 'em.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17Get them like this, they stay so juicy and tender, so soft.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20- Coral trout, there. - No good for grilling.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23- Ah ha.- It's good for Chinese cooking, for steaming.
0:54:23 > 0:54:30You poach them, whatever, but all our fish comes off the charcoal, so this one gets very tough very often.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33What sort of worries me is there's just no ice. I suppose it's money.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37But then again, there's an extremely high turnover.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41- Yeah.- But I agree what you say. That's why we're so particular about it.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43'His restaurant is called Boombu Bali,
0:54:43 > 0:54:47'after the famous Balinese curry paste, which is so important here.'
0:54:47 > 0:54:52It's a mix of red chillies, garlic, shallots, fresh turmeric, ginger,
0:54:52 > 0:54:58candle nuts, tomatoes, coriander seeds, dried shrimp powder and salt.
0:54:58 > 0:55:04And then, what he does is to mince the whole lot up in a butcher's mincing machine.
0:55:07 > 0:55:15Then he puts in kaffir lime leaves, a twist of lemongrass, coconut oil and tamarind juice, and then water,
0:55:15 > 0:55:19and then he puts that on the heat to cook.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23So, this spice mix we're making here, how important is that?
0:55:23 > 0:55:26Well, that's the ultimate in Balinese cooking. Boombu is a marinade.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28This particular one is for fish.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32We do another one for chicken, we do another for beef and for vegetables
0:55:32 > 0:55:36and the basic spice base for pork, duck or lamb. That's the ultimate.
0:55:39 > 0:55:44So, having marinated his fish with boombu, he fries the paste and adds fish stock.
0:55:44 > 0:55:49He's also chucked in kaffir lime leaves and some more lemongrass.
0:55:49 > 0:55:53Once it's hot enough, it's time to put in the fish, bite sized chunks
0:55:53 > 0:55:58of grouper, and then the prawns, with their covering of boombu paste.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02He cooks things very quickly, and then, in with the coconut milk,
0:56:02 > 0:56:05and then, thin strips of cuttlefish, or indeed, squid.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09And that goes in right at the end, because he's right,
0:56:09 > 0:56:14it doesn't have to cook, it just needs to warm through and it's ready.
0:56:14 > 0:56:19The hard work is creating the boombu, the rest takes less than a minute.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27Heinz is quite philosophical about living here.
0:56:27 > 0:56:32'He explained to me what it was that he felt had got into his mind and made him go native.
0:56:32 > 0:56:38'He said the Balinese live for today and no-one seems to stress about what will happen tomorrow.'
0:56:38 > 0:56:44There's a spirit which you can feel. This is Bali, you know, and this is why I think so many people come here.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46That's why I will never get off this island.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49People, they have natural respect for each other.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52What is very good in Bali, everything has a positive side.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54The karma, the spirit of Bali's so good.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57Look at the guys over there, bringing in the boats.
0:56:57 > 0:56:59They might have five fish.
0:56:59 > 0:57:05He's happy. You know, people have an accident here, they say, "Look, what a bad accident he had,"
0:57:05 > 0:57:07they say, "Well, he's still alive.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10"He only broke a foot, he could have broken his neck as well."
0:57:10 > 0:57:12They see in everything something good.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15This is what is very special about Bali and the Balinese people,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18and that's why I think so many people keep coming back to Bali.
0:57:18 > 0:57:23Being grateful. You know, how often do you find this missing in Western
0:57:23 > 0:57:26societies, where the people actually respect each other?
0:57:26 > 0:57:31They're grateful, they're happy and this is what is unique in Bali, people respect each other.
0:57:31 > 0:57:37They're positive. You come as a foreigner, they approach you, they look at you as something positive.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42Well, Heinz, I thoroughly agree with you.
0:58:07 > 0:58:09Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd