Our arrival at Banda Niera was noted by many of the local tour operators, some of whom came by boat to welcome us and invite us on tours to local attractions.
One operator, Mr Man, invited us to a cooking class at house. We had heard about this from other yachts, and were keen for the experience.
We were collected from our mooring in a local longboat, who dropped us at the old colonial hotel in the town, from where a fleet of scooters was commandeered to take us to the home of Mrs Man. After a tour of the harbourside garden, and a relaxing drink from a coconut cut down from the front yard, we were escorted into the modest kitchen. The benches were tiled masonry, and the stove a single kerosene burner. No cutting board was used, with the knife wielded in hand, but mostly ingredients were pulverised with mortar and pestle.
With the local ingredients that we were to use lined up along the bench, and labelled for us to learn the Bahasan names, we shown how to cook “yellow rice” with the local spices supplemented with flesh from coconut in the cooking, before making a dish of eggplant and another of tuna. After a quick taste, we were loaded up with take away containers to enjoy the meals later, before the scooter ride and boat trip back out to the moorings.
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