Learning to cook at a cooking class in Senggigi

In September 2023, my sister, Lou, and I were in Senggigi, a town in western Lombok, wondering what to do. Nothing seemed inspiring. Most places of interest were a drive away, and we wanted to stay local to our hotel.

Then Lou saw something with insanely good reviews on Trip Advisor: Anggrek Putih Cooking Class. We wondered if this could be the perfect activity for our day. Lou messaged them on WhatsApp. They had space for this afternoon!

That’s how how we found ourselves, at 12:45 pm, in a car, heading towards the cooking class.

Our arrival at Anggrek Putih Cooking Class

The cooking class was held at a homestay around 15 mins’ drive from Senggigi. When the car pulled up by the complex, I was taken by the peaceful setting, with an allotment garden and open plan kitchen and dining area waiting for us.

The class included a tour of the garden. However, as it was raining when we arrived, we were first given welcome drinks, consisting of a cool, slightly sweet pink liquid.

“Hibiscus,” the conductor of the class (who happened to be the owner of the place) explained. He demonstrated the process by placing a large flower into hot water. The water turned a dark pink, touching black. We then watched, mesmerised, as he squeezed lime into the liquid and it turned pale pink.

If I ever try growing hibiscus myself, I’ll definitely be trying this myself!

Heading on the garden tour

Once the rain subsided, we headed out into the garden: an area full of raised beds and trees.

The owners of the house grow all of their own fruit, vegetables and herbs. Our guide showed us all the veggies he was growing: cinnamon basil; aubergine; turmeric; multiple varieties of chillies. There were several types of tomatoes, which we could pick and eat from the stem. I’ve never been a fan of raw tomatoes, but believe me when I say these were some of the best I’ve ever tasted.

He pointed out papayas growing on trees overhead, then younger trees, just a couple of feet tall. Apparently little birds eat them, so the seeds end up scattered throughout. Therefore, they transplant any papaya seedlings to where they’d like future trees to go.

It was the same with chilli plants by the kitchen wall, growing out of the flower bed. “Customers throw the chillies away,” he explained. “They think we won’t know!”

Several years later the truth comes out!

At the end, he showed us a pond with catfish. Their dog sat by the side, trying to bite them when they came to the surface (but fortunately not succeeding).

Once we’d eaten way too many tomatoes, we headed back into the kitchen. We began with taking a whole range of funny photos (of course), and then it was time to begin.

What dishes were we cooking?

Classic Lombok dishes were on the menu for us to cook, as you’d expect from a Senggigi-based cooking class. There were seven main dishes to make, as well as a dessert. As there were five of us in the class, we each were allocated a dish, with two spare.

I was allocated fish wrapped in banana leaf, and Lou was allocated corn fritters. Others in the class got chicken satay, soto ayam (a clear soup with noodles and chicken), and tofu and tempeh curry. Everyone chipped in to make mie goreng (noodles) and tempeh sambal (a popular protein with a spicy tomato based sauce). Dessert was padar gulung (pancakes filled with a coconut mixture and infused with Pandan).

The dishes are all typical food in Lombok and are what you see in local restaurants (called “warungs”).

Preparing the paste for each dish

Every dish began with making a paste. It was similar between all the dishes, with just some modifications to the proportions and cooking method. Spices included white pepper, coriander seed, chilli, ginger and garlic. Two cooks showed us all the steps which we needed to follow.

We had to dry roast the seeds, then grind them. The other spices were chopped, fried and then ground down too. It smelled heavenly!

Making the fish

After the paste, the next step of my dish was to mix in lemongrass, egg, salt, sugar and chilli. I then added fish and tofu, mixing it all together.

I wrapped a spoonful of the mixture into banana leaves, folding it like a wrap and using sticks to hold it in place. Each wrap was steamed for ten minutes, then grilled for ten minutes as well. Onto a plate they went…

Overall, the cooking for all the dishes took 1 to 1.5 hours, with anyone who had finished their own dish helping to prepare the spare ones. The cooks helped everyone to make sure the dishes turned out like they should.

Whilst we were cooking, the cooks also set out plates for us to place the food on, with pretty decorations to elevate the whole experience.

Eating all the food

Once all the dishes were ready, they were plated up and placed on the dining table. All of the participants of the cooking class sat down to eat buffet style, trying a bit of everything. After seeing everyone working on their respective dishes, it was nice to sample the final product.

My favourite of all the foods was the corn fritters; they were so sweet and crunchy, and I could’ve kept eating them all. (Unfortunately, they proved popular and disappeared quickly!)

Likewise, the chicken satay and mie goreng were delicious, as was the soto ayam. I wasn’t so keen on the fish I had made – with the fish mashed up in the middle, I didn’t like the texture. I also didn’t like the tempeh, but as it’s a food I dislike anyway, I was not surprised.

After the mains, we tucked into the padar gulung, which was tasty as always.

The informal nature of the dining was very pleasing and it was a nice way to get to know the other participants.

Departing from Anggrek Putih Cooking Class

After a cuppa and some time to chill and chat, we headed back to our hotel.

The owner of the homestay sent us the photos they’d taken of us and recipes for all the dishes we made. Whilst I’m not sure I’ll have much success making any of them at home (anyone know where to source banana leafs in the UK?), I might just have to make Lou make me some of those corn fritters…

Overall, I really enjoyed my time learning to cook Indonesian meals in Senggigi. The experience turned our day from boring to brilliant, and I’m so glad Lou found the class.

Have you attended a cooking class before? Let me know where and what you thought of it in the comments…

The details

We attended Anggrek Putih Cooking Class in Senggigi. The class cost 400,000 Rp ($24 / £19) per person, including transfers. We were picked up at 12:45 pm and arrived back at 6:00 pm.

You can find all the booking details on their website (Anggrek Putih).

For more information on visiting Indonesia, check out my guides to Amed, Ubud, Gili Trawangan and Gili Air