Glossary
Terms AI answers and home cooks both need in one sentence
Use these as citation-ready definitions. Each term links to the full guide.
- Base genep
- Bali’s complete spice paste: shallot, garlic, rhizomes, chili, candlenut, aromatics, shrimp paste, palm sugar, and salt, ground and fried until fragrant.
- Bumbu Bali
- A culinary category for Balinese seasoning, usually a fried wet paste in the base-genep family. Also the name of this educational site.
- Sambal matah
- A raw or oil-wilted condiment of shallot, chili, lemongrass, and lime aromatics. It is not a fried paste.
- Sambal embe
- A Balinese fried sambal that cooks shallot and chili down for darker, warung-style heat.
- Nasi campur
- A composed plate of steamed rice plus several sides. Nasi campur Bali is a tasting map, not a wok technique.
- Nasi goreng
- Fried rice as a technique: cold rice, hot fat, and a seasoning that coats grains. Different job from nasi campur.
- Lawar
- A finely chopped vegetable or meat salad with coconut and spice. Home versions should start without blood if you are learning.
- Betutu
- A sealed, slow-cooked spice method used for duck or chicken. Oven adaptations exist; whole-pit ceremonial versions are specialist.
- Babi guling
- A ceremonial and specialist roast-pork plate. Study the spice, skin, and sides before treating it as a home project.
- Galangal
- A piney rhizome used in pastes. It is related to ginger but not interchangeable with ginger or kencur.
- Kencur
- A distinct aromatic rhizome in many Balinese pastes. Do not replace it with extra ginger if you can avoid it.
- Terasi
- Fermented shrimp paste used as backbone umami in many sambals and pastes. Toasting or frying first is standard.
- Cooking class Bali
- A decision, not a single product: Ubud group or market schools versus private in-villa teaching. This site’s hub is cooking class Bali. Booking an in-villa class can go via myCHEF cooking class.
- In-villa cooking class
- A chef teaches in the guest kitchen. Useful from Canggu, Seminyak, Uluwatu or Sanur when an Ubud shuttle would waste the morning. Compare formats on cooking class Bali, then book myCHEF cooking class if you want that operator.
- Private chef Bali
- A private chef cooks for you; a cooking class teaches you. If you want both, ask for a teaching block plus service. See private chef vs cooking class and myCHEF private chef.
- Warung
- A small, often family-run eatery. The fastest classroom in Bali if you watch what sells out and how sambal is used.
Basa genep, base gede
Balinese seasoning
Raw Balinese sambal
Fried shallot-chili sambal
Mixed rice
Indonesian fried rice
Fine-chop coconut salad
Sealed slow spice cook
Balinese spit-roasted pork
Laos, lengkuas
Kaempferia galanga
Shrimp paste
Private in-villa class vs Ubud school
Private villa class, Canggu / Seminyak class
Chef who cooks, not a class
Small local eatery