Serombotan is a salad dish from Bali, specifically Klungkung region. It is made from local vegetables such as winged beans, snake beans, Thai eggplant, bean sprouts and so on, and topped with spiced grated coconut and homemade sauce called koples. Typically, it is served with fried bean toppings and sometimes also eaten with nasi sela, which is rice cooked with sweet potato.
Serombotan is tasty, healthy, and cheap. You can find it easily at any Balinese local markets, though nowadays many high-end restaurants serve it too.
How to make serombotan
I used many kinds of vegetables that are also used in Balinese kitchen to make it as authentic as possible. However, if you can’t find them in your Asian supermarket, don’t worry – it will still taste delicious with for example, cabbage, bean sprouts, and green beans. All of the vegetables are blanched and then topped with spiced grated coconut called sambal nyuh and thin chili sauce called koples.
I also used soybean sprouts that I sprouted by myself a few days earlier. You can substitute them with mung bean sprouts which are more widely available.
I also used bitter melon in this recipe. Some people may be turned off by the bitterness, but there are some ways to remove most of it. In Indonesia, we rub salt over the bitter melon, massage it, and rinse it. Magically, the bitter melon turns less bitter afterwards hehehe… Of course, some people prefer to leave a bit more bitterness than the others. You just need to repeat the process to reduce the bitterness until it reaches the level that you want.
One tips from me, serve each of the vegetable on a big plate and separate each of the toppings. Let your family or friends assemble their own serombotan plate so they can also choose which vegetables and legumes they want (plus it’s more fun!).
Finally, I just want to say that even though the preparation may take a while, this dish is super healthy and delicious, especially eaten during hot summer days. It will remind you of the tropical jungle and rice terraces of Bali – at least I feel so 🌞
Happy cooking!
Serombotan
Ingredients
- 100 g morning glory, cut into 3 cm sticks
- 100 g snake beans, cut into 3 cm sticks
- 100 g soybean sprouts (substitute with mung bean sprouts)
- 100 g bitter melon
- 100 g Thai eggplants, thinly sliced
- 50 g black eyed peas, soaked overnight
- 50 g small red beans, soaked overnight
- 50 g soybeans, soaked overnight
- 50 g peanuts
- 1 tbs coconut oil
- 1 tbs salt
Sambal nyuh (coconut sambal):
- 200 g grated coconut
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 red chilies
- 2 bird eye’s chilies
- 1 slice galangal
- 1 tsp terasi (shrimp paste)
- 1 tbs sugar
- 1 tbs coconut oil
- To taste salt
Bumbu koples (koples sauce):
- 3 red chilies
- 1/2 tsp terasi (shrimp paste), grilled
- 1 tsp kecap manis
- 1 tbs sugar
- 3 tbs water
- 1 tbs nasnaran mandarin (jeruk limau) juice (or substitute with lime juice)
- To taste salt
Instructions
- Halve the bitter melon and scrape out the white part inside. Discard it. To remove the bitterness from bitter gourd, add 1 tablespoon of salt into the bitter melon slices in a bowl. Massage for about 2 minutes and let it sit for 15 minutes. Rinse thoroughly under running water and boil until soft but still slightly crunchy.
- Blanch all the other vegetables separately, except for eggplants and peanuts. Soak the eggplant slices in water while you prepare the other things. This is to prevent them from turning brown.
- For the beans, boil them until soft but not mushy, about 10 minutes for small red beans, and 20 minutes for soybeans and black-eyed peas.
- Make the sambal nyuh by dry roasting grated coconut until slightly browned. Pour this in a mixing bowl. In the same pan, heat up 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. Fry garlic, chilies, and galangal for about 2 minutes. Add terasi and stir fry for 30seconds. Transfer the mixture into a mortar together with salt, and sugar. Grind until smooth and mix with coconut.
- For the peanuts. Heat coconut oil in a pan. Pour in peanuts and stir fry for 5 minutes until the peanuts are browned.
- Make the koples by grinding chilies, terasi, salt and sugar. Add lime juice, water and kecap manis. Mix well.
- To serve, arrange blanched vegetables on a plate according to your taste. Top with sambal nyuh and pour bumbu koples on top. Sprinkle some roasted peanuts on top.