Balinese-style lamb
Fragrant, fiery, and full of island soul, Balinese-style lamb is a stir-fry that captures the vibrant spirit of Indonesian cooking. Tender slices of lamb get seared until golden, then coated in a bold spice paste of red Thai chilies, garlic, ginger, and toasted coconut that fills the kitchen with an irresistible aroma. A glossy finish of kecap manis, soy sauce, brown sugar, and fresh lime juice balances heat with sweetness and a bright citrus lift. Served over fluffy jasmine rice with crisp sugar snap peas on the side, it's a dish that turns dinner into a delicious journey across the flavors of Bali.
Ingredients
Instructions
Combine the chilies, fish sauce, onions, garlic, ginger, and toasted coconut in a blender or food processor. Blend until the mixture forms a smooth, fragrant paste. This aromatic base is the heart of the dish, so take a moment to scrape down the sides and blend until everything comes together.
Heat the peanut oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the lamb in batches and stir-fry until browned all over. Cooking in batches keeps the heat high, so the lamb sears rather than steams. Transfer each batch to a plate as it finishes.
Add the spice paste to the hot wok and stir-fry until it turns deeply fragrant and the raw edge of the aromatics has softened. This step blooms the spices and builds the layered flavor that defines the dish.
Return the lamb to the wok along with the brown sugar, kecap manis, soy sauce, and lime juice. Stir-fry until everything is heated through and the lamb is glossy and well coated in the sauce.
Notes
Kecap manis is a sweet, thick Indonesian soy sauce available at Asian grocery stores and most large supermarkets. Its syrupy texture and caramel-like sweetness are key to the dish's signature balance.
Slice the lamb thinly and against the grain for the most tender bite. Freezing the fillets for about 20 minutes first makes them easier to cut into neat, even slices.
Don't crowd the wok. Searing in batches gives the lamb a deep, caramelized flavor rather than a gray, steamed finish.
Toast the desiccated coconut in a dry pan over medium heat until lightly golden, stirring often so it doesn't burn. This brings out its nutty warmth.
Variations
Adjust the heat to taste. Use fewer chilies for a milder paste or leave some seeds in for extra fire.
Round out the meal with steamed jasmine rice, which soaks up the glossy sauce beautifully, and add crisp stir-fried sugar snap peas for a fresh, bright counterpoint.
Source
Balinese-style lamb draws on real Indonesian building blocks — kecap manis, the sweet soy sauce ubiquitous across the archipelago, and a chili-garlic-ginger spice paste with toasted coconut, echoing methods found in Balinese dishes like lawar. However, lamb isn't a traditional Balinese protein, since the island's Hindu-majority cuisine favors pork, duck, chicken, and fish. Lamb is more at home in the wider Indonesian repertoire, in dishes like sate kambing from Java and Sumatra, so think of this recipe as inspired by Bali's spice work rather than a traditional village dish.