‘Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.’

Noam Chomsky

Responding to monstrously industrial agricultural methods that can be as destructive as they are productive, a chef we met in Bali has other ideas of how to prepare food and eat. Simon Jongenotter at New Earth Cooking has converted an old chicken shed into a cooking school. The garden outside boasts an abundance of natures best from coconuts, papayas, cacao and turmeric to root beer leaf, sweet potato and kale. The food he prepares wanders naturally from his organic micro-garden to your plate within the hour.

We headed up towards the volcanoes in Tabanan for a cooking lesson, and this recipe is inspired by food from the chicken shed. It’s vegan. It has no refined sugars. It feels luxurious and it tastes amazing. Play around with your own flavours.

Thank you to Simon and everyone at New Earth Cooking.

Ingredients

coconut oil
2 x sweet potatoes – peeled and cut into 15mm cross-sections for roasting
2 x bananas – peeled and halved longways
40g cacao butter
1/2 teaspoon smoked chilli
40g raw cacao
sea salt
5 drops of rose water

Method

1. Roast the sweet potatoes in coconut in a hot oven.
2. Fry the bananas in coconut oil.
3. Once roasted and fried, let the sweet potatoes and the fried bananas cool a little.
4. Melt the cacao butter gently in a small tub over hot water.
5. Blend all the ingredients together well until smooth and deliciously creamy.
6. While the mouse is warm you can decant into preferred receptacles as it will become firmer as it cools.

Voila, super flavours and it seems to just get tastier on day two in the fridge.

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Other recipes from Bali

Balinese young jackfruit stew

Gui’s coconut soy bowl salad

Balinese purple pitaya smoothie