In Praise of Bubur and Nasi Campur

Breakfast time at the Ubud Market. I am on a mission to find my favourite food to break the fast of a contented sleep. I enter at the corner of Monkey Forest Road and Jalan Raya, past a row of sellers dressed in faded sarongs and kebayas, selling pink and green cakes, soft blue hydrangeas, coconut leaves, green bananas and vegetables of all descriptions.

As I jalan-jalan round the corner, squeezing my way past one hundred Ubud mums doing their early morning shopping, I find what I am looking for: mission accomplished and there is my breakfast. Ahead of me, shaded from the hot morning sun, is the bubur seller serving my favourite market treat, bubur. Bubur is soft-boiled rice that is cooked or topped with assorted seasonings and in this case, it is a savoury dish. I am crazy about it.

The bubur seller sits snugly between a community of grandmas at low tables that are set up for the morning’s take-away trade. These are Ubud’s D.I.Y. walking food vendors – meals on legs, not wheels, if you know what I mean. Every morning, these diligent grandmas carry cooked rice and assorted seasonings on their heads to the market. Have you seen them? They walk from home, set-up shop and when all is sold, carry the empty pots and pans back to their abode with a somewhat lighter load than when they arrived.

In the crowded western wing of the market, you can buy sweet or savoury rice porridge, bubur, and nasi campur from these four grandmas who have been selling take-away rice for as long as I, or anyone in Ubud for that matter, can remember. But it is more than that. This cosy little corner provides an exciting local gathering of sorts, for it is here you can catch up on all the village gossip in a matter of minutes. You can find out about almost anything, told in the most animated, exaggerated way while buying much-needed provisions for the family. That is what I call one-stop shopping!

A bowl of bubur will keep your engines purring until the sun passes the midday mark and I can think of no better way to kick-start your day. Bubur is one of the most loving fill-me-ups and will have you humming dreamily until the sun goes down. What also makes the market bubur so seductive, (well, to me anyway) is the flavour of fresh coconut oil and fried shrimp paste. It adds a mellow, luscious base note that gives it a certain depth, rather like smooth jazz.

Home cooking is something I am passionate about and bubur is home food par excellence. It’s relaxed, authentic and unpretentious. And it’s more than that. As Nigella Lawson says, as she seductively stirs a pot of glossy chocolate sauce looking longingly into the camera “cooking should reflect your personality, not your aspirations.” (Yes I know she is on the expansive side these days). Bubur reflects the simple side of us all, the shielded heart that keeps us loving and laughing. Of course, chocolate might mend a broken heart but bubur will have you patched up and ready for action, full speed ahead!

Whenever I am not well or low on energy my staff makes me a gentle porridge simmered with lemongrass, salam leaves, a sliver of fresh turmeric and greens. The result is a golden, creamy mix of home-cooked sustenance. Bubur is the food of nourishment.

There are many types of bubur in Bali. You can choose from sweet to savoury. I am sure you are familiar with bubur injin (black rice pudding), but there are also bubur ayam (chicken porridge), bubur sago (sago porridge) and many others. In cooking bubur the rules are few. It is simply a matter of simmering and stirring. If that sounds too hard, you could sip on a glass of chilled Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, (if you can find a good one on the island) or chat on the mobile phone, as you leisurely cook up a brew of soft rice. Of course, you can always get your children to cook it, it’s that easy. And if it makes you feel better, think of it as risotto and dream of ‘Under a Tuscan Sun’. (Did you hear about the novel “Too Much Tuscan Sun” written by an Italian author?).

And don’t you love how certain foods take you down memory lane, for better or worse? Eating bubur kacang hijau or mung bean porridge always takes me back to the premature birth of my son, Krishna, in a hospital in Denpasar. I can see it all so clearly, even now sixteen years later. My sparse hospital room overlooked a small road that was teeming with traffic and kaki-lima food sellers, morning until night. Those were the days before swanky clinics and doctors driving BMW’s.

Beneath the window of my room sat a row of people of all ages: the families caring for their loved ones who were staying in the hospital. It was like spending time in some sort of forlorn detention centre. Krishna was no bigger than a small rabbit and his tiny pink ears were curled in like the petals of a closed hibiscus. He slept in a small cot near my bed but we were advised not to handle him too much. He was just too small. How things change.

Everyday, for morning tea, we were given a small bowl of green-tea coloured Bubur Kacang Hijau. Soothing and nutritious, it gave me great comfort at a time when I needed to replenish my strength for my tiny son and me. I loved it and cursed it in one breathe because the mung beans irritated my throat and made me cough. That was the part that hurt but that was what I needed.

Beside the bubur seller at the Ubud market, sit the sticky-rice and nasi campur sellers. Apart from their food, I love the distinguishing feature of the towels on their heads. Perched like turbans, these coils of well-worn cloth have seen better days. They range in faded pastel shades and patterns, in an oddly co-ordinated way. But I digress.

If you feel like something sweet, you can dine on sticky rice, flecked with pumpkin and topped with grated coconut. And then there is the ubiquitous nasi campur. At the market, it usually consists of steamed vegetables with roasted coconut, tempe, ground salted fish and sambal. The meals are all carefully wrapped in banana leaves, or brown paper, to be eaten for breakfast, lunch or as a shared snack amongst friends.

Nasi Campur, which happens to be my favourite for lunch and dinner, is Bali’s national dish and varies in all shapes and sizes around the island. Ubud, too, has its own distinct style. I have been told that visitors from the ragged coast of Southern Bali trek to Ubud to enjoy the simple pleasure of this beloved favourite. And at Indus our nasi campur includes snake beans in coconut milk, grilled chicken tossed with tomato sambal, Balinese satay, tofu, sambal and steamed rice, with green papaya broth served on the side. It is one of our most popular dishes. Enak banget!
So next time you feel like an authentic Bali experience, head to the Ubud Market, put on your brave shoes and dig into a local rice dish with gay abandon. Otherwise, ingest the spirit of a local eating house and as they say, value the difference!