ARES

Beside taliwang chicken and pelecing kangkung, Lombok is also famous with it's vegetable food, like ares vegetables. Ares vegetables is a kind of vegetables made of "kedebong" (from banana tree). No one know that we can make vegetables from this tree except for Lombok people. Not every banana tree can be made into ares vegetables. Only the small young banana, because the old one will taste bitter.

Not everyone can cook it. Only old people (conventional people)can cook this. Why? Because can't be mixed up with anything bitter, sour or sweet. All those tastes can ruin the ares vegetable flavor. It takes quite long time to cook this food, especially the part of cleaning the banana sap and soak it with salt.

Ares vegetables can also be found in Bali, except that the way of cooking and the flavor are quite different. Unlike the usual ares which is used as daily vegetables, ares vegetables is usually made when there is a wedding ceremony (Begawe), "Mituq or Nyiwaq" for people who has died and "Roah" ceremony. People like to eat it while it's still hot.

Because of the complexity of making this food, tourist can rarely find it at the usual restaurants. This food can make people belong addicted to taste it. Ares vegetables can also be added with small pieces of meat or chicken to add the flavor.

In Lombok, almost 75% of it's citizens like this food. Starting from the cleaning man until the Governor. It was proven when the there was a gathering at the Governor's office, ares vegetables had become the favorite food witch everyone ate.

Here is the recipe to cook Ares vegetables

Ingredients:
- One young banana tree (peel away the skin of it)
- 15 red onion
- 15 white onion
- 10 bits of pepper
- 1 shrimp paste
- salt
- 10 chilli
- 1 tea spoon of sugar

How to make it?
- slice the clean ares until it gets this, pour a bit salt on it and press it, then clean it
- all of the ingredients are mixed and pounded together until they are really fine crushed
- cut off and mix the ingredients until it gets smooth
- boil the chicken or meat, then put on the clean ares
- put on the mixed ingredients
- and served it with a fried onion