53. Visiting a local Balinese Pasar (Farmer's Market)
Genuine Bali Farmer's Market, no frills or filters, featuring tropical fruits, canang sari (flower offerings), and bali cakes!
Hello! I’m emerging from intense mortgage-induced therapy (joking, sort of) to bring you to a farmer’s market in North Bali where you won’t find another tourist, but you will find some delicious food and even a Balinese Youtube celeb…
This market, jumbling with fresh fruits and vegetables, sweet treats, florals for canang sari and satay carts, opens twice a day. Once too early in the morning for us to get to and again at 16:00. Since we were visiting in the rainy season, 16:00 normally is coupled with the need for ponchos and the high predictability of getting a tad drenched. We hopped over to Pasar Banyuasri, just a few minutes away from Nico’s family home in Singaraja in search of more tropical fruit snacks and florals.
Getting soaked in the process…
It was mangosteen season, Nico’s favourite - the purple fruit in the bottom right of the photograph below. For those who have never tried it, it tastes like mango in the form of mini mandarin slices with a rogue pit that can fuck you over if you aren’t careful (which is why Nico’s grandma avoids them).
Shopping for canang sari materials. We attempted to make our own but forgot to buy the crucial ingredient, porosan, which allows the offering to be placed by shrines for the gods, so instead I used the flowers for a full moon ritual.
Rambutan season <3 the funkier sibling of lychee. A few branches of these are my dream table centrepiece.
The pink fruit below are rose apples, their flavour matches their name exactly, like an elevated luxurious apple.
It was durian season when we were there, an intoxicating fruit not for the faint-hearted but like an umami ice cream if you serve a fleshy pod ice cold. Here are some tossed in with chayote, which is aptly also called vegetable pear, a pretty accurate description of the taste.
We stocked up on one of everything at the bali cakes (kue kue) stand, run by a Bali celeb, the mother of a famous Youtuber, haipuja, his short comedy skits are well known throughout the island. Her cameos became so popular that she is now a frequent fixture on his channel. She cracked a few jokes with us and told us about moonlighting as a Youtube celeb as she filled up banana leaves with goodies to take home.
Most of these sweets are made from glutinous rice flour, sugar and different flavours like pandan leaf or banana. They are piled high with freshly shaved coconut, topped with palm syrup and are a touch of nirvana and decent distraction from tropical rains. Unfortunately, like a lot of markets in Southeast Asia, there is too much single use plastic. But carts like these continue to wrap their food in banana leaves and if you bring a reusable bag you can forgo the quick toss into a single use plastic bag. By the way, the pot filled with a bright green substance in the above photograph is bubur sumsum flavoured with pandan. It’s a sweet porridge and when topped with all the tropical fruits, it is one of my favourite breakfasts.
You can see stacks of folded banana leaves for sale in the corner below in case you want to toss your tupperware and go full green.
The perfect fruit basket <3
Some things nourishing me recently:
the light the other day - need to ketchup my copper pots soon though..
self care at Aluna Holistic Beauty
fertilizing my orchids - new to the orchid game - tips welcome
sunbathing furbabies
walking through the Amsterdam forest
the cuteness of this corner building
Thank you so much for being here <3 See you soon for a garden tour of Nico’s family home in Singaraja: koi ponds, banana trees, rose apples and more! I’ll also touch upon a green initiative and trash prevention throughout North Bali that have transformed the landscape over the last few years.
Know someone else who loves farmer’s markets?
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