Lawar Recipe | Traditional Balinese Ceremonial Salad

Lawar is Bali's most important ceremonial dish - a complex mixed salad of vegetables, coconut, and spices. Here is how to make the vegetable version at home.

Lawar is the quintessential Balinese dish - a complex, ceremonial mixed salad that appears at every major Balinese Hindu celebration. It is made in many versions: lawar sayur (vegetable), lawar ayam (chicken), lawar babi (pork), and the most traditional lawar merah (red lawar with blood).

The version taught in our cooking classes is lawar sayur, the vegetable version that is both delicious and accessible for all diets. It showcases the essential Balinese technique of combining blanched vegetables with freshly grated coconut and a complex spice paste.

The spice paste (base genep) for lawar: Blend 4 shallots, 3 garlic cloves, 3 red chilies, 1 tablespoon fresh turmeric, 2cm galangal, 2cm ginger, 4 candlenuts, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, 1/2 teaspoon white pepper, 1 teaspoon shrimp paste, and salt into a smooth paste. Fry in oil for 5 minutes until fragrant.

The salad: Blanch 200g long beans (cut into thin rings), 100g bean sprouts, and 100g young jackfruit (or substitute shredded cabbage). Drain and cool. Mix with 150g freshly grated coconut, 3 kaffir lime leaves (finely shredded), and the fried spice paste. Toss well.

The key to great lawar is the grated coconut. It must be fresh, not dried or desiccated. Fresh coconut absorbs the spice paste and distributes flavor throughout the salad. In Bali, coconut is grated to order at the market - at home, crack a fresh coconut and grate by hand or in a food processor.