Maritime Southeast Asia · Volume 47, The Odalan Calendar, the Base Genep and the Island That Kept Its Pig
Bubuh injin
Bali-wide
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- Hands on 1 hour · Waiting 8 hours
- Researched
- No outside sources linked
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Bubuh injin is made from beras injin, black glutinous rice, simmered slowly in its own soaking water with palm sugar and pandan until tender, finished with thick coconut milk. Its black colour is read, in more than one source, as carrying a symbolic association with protection and spiritual strength, and the dish is described as both a religious offering and a popular, ordinary dessert sold across Indonesia generally, not exclusive to Bali. This chapter treats it, like jukut ares, as a genuine dual-register dish rather than settling it one way.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. 1 hour, plus overnight soaking.
Ingredients
- 200g black glutinous rice, soaked overnight
- 100g palm sugar
- 1 pandan leaf, knotted
- a pinch a pinch of salt
- 200ml coconut milk, thick, for serving
Method
- Simmer the soaked rice in its own soaking water, topped up as needed, with the pandan leaf, until the grains are fully tender and the liquid has thickened to a loose porridge, about 40 to 50 minutes.
- Stir in the palm sugar and a pinch of salt.
- Serve warm or chilled, with a generous pour of thick coconut milk over the top.
What a modern chef changes
An even, hands-off cook and a smoother finish
Method
- Cook the soaked rice sous vide at 90°C for 2 hours in a sealed bag with its soaking liquid and the pandan leaf, for a more even texture throughout than an open simmer, which tends to break the grains at the base of the pan before the top layer is fully tender.
- Blend the coconut milk finish in a high-power blender with a touch of warm water until completely smooth and lightly aerated, for a lighter, silkier pour than coconut milk straight from the tin.