C-Bomb Hot Sauce?! YES!

It's no secret I love local food. The people who  make it and are dedicated to using local produce, the markets who give them a place to sell it, and the locavores who seek it out and buy it! It's important that our isolated little pocket of the world is not reliant on our more heavily populated and well known eastern rellies. We are WA and we can do this all ourselves thank you! Sorry Melbourne, I still love you.

But here is a fun new WA product that I think we can all agree has a pretty awesome name. What else is awesome about it? It's friggin delicious. C-Bomb Hot Sauce is made by Renae Bunster, a WA local who got her inspiration for creating this fruity hot sauce during her travels in South America. I asked her a few questions about her product, which is on sale at Araluen Fremantle Chilli Festival (Saturday and Sunday the 9-10th March). Also included some of the amazing videos from their YouTube channel :D Enjoy!

1) On your website you say that your sauce is a "whole food" hot sauce - can you explain this and tell us what goes into your sauces?

I think the Thermomix revolution has taught many people we need to be eating more whole foods - and whole food basically means real food taken from nature that's had nothing bad done to it - ie been processed to the point of losing its nutrients and being unrecognisable from it's original form. So as I originally made the sauce for myself I made it to be totally healthy, as opposed to how big businesses decide to make a product - cheap ingredients so they can make more profit. C-Bomb is made completely from fresh raw vegetables, chillies and freshly squeezed fruit juices. The only other thing added apart from the raw foods are Himalayan crystal salt as this is the purest salt with the most minerals, raw cane sugar (totally unrefined) and apple cider vinegar. Cider vinegar has many health benefits and as it's not malt vinegar it means my sauce is gluten free. The sauce also has no preservatives or weird unnecessary additives. I don't even add water to it, I use fresh orange juice instead.

2) You've really emphasised the raw aspect - does it stay that way?

No, the sauce is definitely cooked. I just use fresh raw ingredients. I spoke to a contract filler a few weeks ago and they were shocked that I used raw carrots. Why so surprised I asked? and they said: Because we just get dehydrated ones and rehydrate them.

I was shocked!

It is becoming the norm in food processing plants to just buy in franken-foods and mix them together to hoodwink people's taste buds in to thinking they're being fed something nutritious, when it's not. They can also lie on the label and say : carrots, when really they WERE carrots now they're effectively orange dust.
RAAAA don't get me started on those people. They looked my sauce up and down and had never heard or seen anything so preposterous: fresh ingredients? you want to be present for the cook to make sure it tastes right? You think your branding is funny?
So after that little meeting I have continued to make the sauce myself in my own commercial kitchen with my own staff. In the future when things get out of control I will have to look in to contract fillers again but jeez that meeting was a nightmare that I was happy to walk away from.

3) When you were creating your sauces based on your travels in South America, what were the flavours you most wanted to incorporate?

When I was in Mexico I was blown away by the coriander and lime based chilli salsas so definitely knew I wanted lots of them in there. When I got to Belize I discovered Marie Sharp's hot sauces' main ingredient was carrots! So that's when I realised vegetables could be used. Ecuador's Aji was made totally from tomatoes. So I had this as a base in my brain and from there I upped the garlic, used orange juice instead of water, then added ginger for a laugh one day. Then BAM my taste buds screamed BOOM CHICKA WOW WOW.

 

 4) What kind of chillies do you use and what is special about them?

My whole sauce motto is: I don't want to hurt you, I just want to add flavour zest and pizzazz to your meal. We all deserve a little bit of pizzazz at meal times don't we? So I use chillies that add flavour rather than just burn. So therefore I love a nice fresh red birds eye chilli. However there are lots of hard nut chilli fans who need something harder, so in my 'Bloody Hot' sauce I add fresh habaneros. I love the smoky taste of them. And for complete mentalists I now have 'The F-Bomb' sauce which has Ghost and Scorpion chillies (as well). They just burn your face off. But some friends requested this and they go mental for it so good luck to them. Personally I only eat 'Hot' with the fresh Birds eyes.

5) So do you use local produce in your sauces?
Yes I definitely get local stuff when possible. And the majority of the sauce is locally sourced - always the carrots, tomatoes, onions, coriander, capsicums and then chillies and oranges for most of the year. Limes and ginger I get from Australia - but from over east and the garlic is the only imported ingredient (except for the Himalayan crystal salt but we don't have any comparable mountains in Australia) In winter I will have to use chillies from Asia, but the non chilli period here isn't for that long so I can probably avoid it.
Vinegar and raw sugar also from over east.
So based on percentages I definitely am and always will be a West Australian product.

6) What products are you bringing to the chilli festival, and can you tell us about them?

The products I'm bringing to the Chilli Festival are my 5 sauces:

Piss Weak: This has C-Bomb's fantastic unique flavour without any burn at all if you ask me. But really piss weak people say 'Ohh that's spicy' Pffft.

Medium: Again the same C-Bomb recipe with a few more fresh birds eyes in there, this is the kind of heat your Mum can handle.

Hot: The grande dame in my stable this heat level is perfect for most chilli lovers. I can smash a bottle of this on one meal, and often do. Bunster's own choice!

Bloody Hot: As the name suggests you really have to be 'one of those chilli freak people' to smash through this sauce. Again same fantastic flavour just with more bite. Chilli freaks get addicted to this immediately. Bless them.

The F-Bomb: All the C-Bomb Bloody Hot goodness but with Ghost and Scorpion chillies in there as well to really shut you up. "Got anything hotter than Bloody Hot?", oh yes, yes I do.

7) What is your favourite product and what are your favourite uses for it?

My Favourite heat level is Hot. It's just perfect for me. I can keep eating it and the heat doesn't slow me down. I use it on EVERYTHING. As a salad dressing, in bolognaises, pastas, noodles, casseroles, hummus, guacamole, curries, on eggs, with cheese and crackers, in a sandwich, at BBQs, as a marinade for fish and chicken. I even put it on rockmelon once just to prove a point, and it was fantastic! This sauce adds flavour to whatever you're making so if you're not the best cook or can't be bothered adding garlic, onions, coriander, lime, ginger etc to a dish you're making yourself, just add this and you get that flavour. People will think you are a genius.

8) Dual Action Flavour Curve Technology? Please explain!

Our patented 'Dual-Action-Flavour-Curve Technology' is instantly understood once you taste the sauce. You first get a hit of massive flavour across your tongue, this is the flavour curve, and then after the flavour dissipates in to your tongue, the chilli kicks in. Thus the sauce has dual actions, both moving in different curves. I have a very talented animationist working on a video info-graphic for my site to illustrate the technology. It's all very complicated for people who aren't scientists wearing lab coats and safety goggles to understand so I won't talk too much more about it.

9) So what's your story Renae?
I'm a former television journalist with no formal culinary expertise who just invented this sauce last year after a trip to Latin America. After my friends tried it they started demanding I make it for them. They started knocking on my door at all hours to get it. They started calling me Heisenberg (The Meth Cook from Breaking Bad). So after I got all my friends hooked on my 'product' I realised this might be a business!



You can buy the C-Bomb Hot Sauce at the Chilli Festival this weekend, OR you can buy it off their website www.dropthecbomb.com - FYI, if you buy 4 or more bottles, you get free shipping. YAY!

Stay tuned for a recipe using this fresh, fruity, delicious hot sauce! Did I mention it's totally vegan and gluten free? Well it bloody well is! So get your mouth around it!


In other news... ITS CHILLI FEST WEEKEND!!!! YEEESSSS!!!!!! I'm off to pay people to make me cry and have to lay down under a tree somewhere. I am pumped. I never had a real tolerance to chilli until I started to work on it a couple of years ago. Now I'm hooked!


Disclaimer: I have received no free products at the time of writing this post. I purchased a bottle of the sauce at a market and loved it, loved Renae's approach, and wanted to tell everyone. Cos I love local stuff.

Plans for the future...

There is big change going on in Perth at the moment. A lot of awesome new places opening, there are loads of cool new concepts being explored and Perth is becoming a vibrant and busy city!

The downside of this is, and I guess the mining boom (with FIFO workers flocking back for a week in the city with a fistful of cash and 3 weeks worth of wound up 12 hour shifts style steam to blow off), everything is expensive.

I went to the Belgian Beer Cafe in the city a while back and ordered 4 beers. It cost me about $70. WTF?!

PERTH WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!

So many awesome places opening, small bars, restaurants........... It's hard to come by a decent glass of wine for less than $10.

Don't get me started on the red tape binding everyone hands. There are taxes and charges for everything. Every-fucking-thing. 

Paperwork.
Charges.
Fees.

Pay to submit paperwork, no guarantee you'll get anywhere.

I think it's bullshit. There are so many useless government departments (plenty of useful ones I should add), taking loads of money off young, driven, passionate Western Australians. I call shenanigans. This red tape is suffocating the innovation that young people are capable of!

I've never really been one to pay charges and fees for nothing. 
I don't wanna fill out a million forms for nothing.

During my time in Bali I saw so many people seeing a gap, or using what they were good at and setting up something small and doing what they do. All they needed was a cart, or a small space. I loved seeing it, and reminded me of how IMPOSSIBLE that is here in Perth. There are good reasons for some things, I understand the need for health and safety etc. But we are on red tape over drive.

It inspired me to do what I do. To find a space and do it.

WITHOUT all the restrictions. 
WITHOUT the need for a huge amount of money.

I went to an art exhibition about Paris, Moulin Rouge, the artist was depicting life in the underbelly of this creative capital. All the underground bars, performances, food and drink...

Perth could totally use a place to go that's cheap, with good food, and a relaxed vibe. That has the charm of a small bar, all the fun things a small bar offers, with fun, good food, but you're not leaving $200 poorer.

I can see this niche and I can see how I can fill it, without giving all my money and time to a government department. 

Money will be going somewhere worthwhile. Whatever money you DO pay, will be going to places you can feel good about.

Watch this space!

Gili Trawangan, Lombok

Gili Trawangan is one of 3 islands just off Lombok in Indonesia. On the reccomendation of a friend we decided to look it up, and upon doing some reading saw that it seemed like a pretty special place. 

Book ticket.

The fast boat from Padang Bai in Bali costs you about $100-120 (depending on your haggling skills!) and takes about 60-90 minutes. Both our trips there and back were good, pretty calm waters, felt totally safe and had great views. Others didn't think so though, and the smell of vomit wafted around the inside of the boat from some poor girl who sat right up the front.

Hot tip: if you suspect seasickness might be an issue for you, sit at the back of the boat where there is less movement and more air. It's also easier for you to rush outside for a vom, rather than do it on the floor of the boat. Thanks chick.

Aaaaanyway. The special thing about Gili T is that there are NO cars allowed. Just bikes, and horse and carts, which cost you about $5 for them to take you almost anywhere. All over the island you can hear the tooting of their bells, or the clanging of their random metal instrument against another random instrument - in order to alert you to get outta the way. They don't really stop that fast...

While we were there it rained a bit which explains the flooded roads you'll see in the pics. We got sick of having mud flicking up onto our legs from our thongs, and ended up sitting in a bar drinking mojitos while it hammered down. We all know the rain had nothing to do with the drinks... I'll take an excuse if one is presented to me, alright?

The mojitos were served to me by a kid who looked about 15, wouldn't tell me his age, was getting hammered himself behind the bar, and danced like Michael Jackson. None of the other barstaff seemed to like him. When his boss wasn't there, the drinks were strong, so we loved him. It was here that we discovered a lot of mojitos are made with brown sugar in this part of the world. It looks like shit but tastes amazing - I much prefer them this way!

One of the most memorable things about Gili T is the street side grills - they are everywhere. You just pick what you like and they grill it for you. Cheap seafood, chicken, beef, pork, whatever. They have more legit and sanitary options all along the street, like the picture below, which a lot of people go for. Most of them are attached to restaurants.

But I mean... we're in Indonesia, street food is king. We didn't bother with the clean, refridgerated options. We went straight for the local street food market, where the meat has been sitting out, they pick it up with their hands and throw it in the fryer, and you get no options for how you want it done. How they make it is how you get it. It was AWESOME. 

These guys made awesome satay sticks, and when they saw I was taking pics, were all about getting in them! They answered all my questions about how they cook their fish (as best they could, their English wasn't amazing, my Indonesian is non existant). 

The fish is gutted and butterflied then put in a wire rack which is clamped shut. They brush the skin with garlic oil and grill it for a while where it moves onto the next guy, and he brushes chilli oil onto it and keeps grilling. Finally once he's cooked it longer, he passes it onto the 3rd guy who brushes thick soy sauce over it and grills it a little longer, where it's plonked onto a plate with some rice and a lime wedge and you're done. They smelled amazing, but S and I are both not massively into seafood and didn't order one. We did get the satays from these guys though and they were probably the best I've had. So tasty, chargrilled and retained their moisture. I wanted more but S pushed me along to try something else.

We had nasi goreng which we shared, and it was the BEST I've had, it was delicious. Wok fresh, I don't even know what went in it, but it was topped with a fried egg and finished off with a dollop of spicy sambal. We hoed into it like there was no tomorrow! I also got the fried chicken with sambal and rice, which was yummy. S mentioned the sambal was hot and the stall holder who was having a smoke near our table said it was only medium heat, with a snigger. S felt the challenge had been issued, and asked for some of the HOT sambal. He put on a brave face at first, but that was because it took a minute to really hit him. Then it was a lingering burn, and he went all bogan on me and chugged his beer. 

I had to go and buy him another beer. 

Oh this chicken also made me sick....... Oooops. S didn't eat any of it because he thought it looked a bit dodgy but I was getting into the spirit of the whole experience and eating everything I could see. This was the only thing I ate that he didn't so... yeah. Bali belly isn't fun kids.

Nothing that a trip down a dodgy alleyway to a dodgy medical clinic with a dodgy doctor who charged me $50 to poke me and give me immodium and some antibiotics, couldn't fix.

Long story short - Go to Gili T, it's beautiful. Ride around the island (doesn't take long), go snorkelling, relax by the beach, and eat some street food.

Just don't get the chicken.

No, stuff it, get it, it's great, just go to the pharmacy and ask for the bali belly antibiotics FIRST. Get on top of those little mofos. Who are they to stop me eating chicken anyway!?

Casa Luna cooking class, Ubud.

One of the things that was a must do in my eyes was to do a Balinese cooking class. A friend of mine has already gone to the Casa Luna cooking class and said good things, and when I did some research it seemed like this was a popular class with a good reputation. It was also only $33 each, which is a fraction of the cost of ANY class in Perth!

The school is set up by Janet de Neefe, here's part of the blurb from her book "Bali";

"26 years ago, a young woman from Melbourne travelled to Bali, and never quite made it back home. Janet De Neefe fell in love – with the people, the culture, the cuisine and since then, she has been collecting Balinese and Indonesian recipes, teaching local cooking methods and immersing herself in the colour and vibrancy of all that Balinese food has to offer."

Booking was pretty easy - I had an issue with my bank, but everyone I dealt with at Casa Luna was really friendly.

Each day they have a different class with a variety of different dishes, I had trouble choosing! But I chose the class where we made Balinese chicken satay, lawar, gado gado, beans in coconut milk, corn fritters and fragrant yellow rice.

Our teacher was bright, bubbly and had a great sense of humour. She introduced us to so many different ingredients, included info on how to use them, where to find them and what they taste like. We got a little booklet with all the recipes and I will be digging it out and trying them again!

We had to grind all the spices ourselves in big flat pestle and mortar, which took some doing! Everyone had a go, and then the pros took over so it wouldn't take us so long! The first thing that we made was a sweet and sour sauce that she put on cucumber, pineapple, and apple, which is a popular afternoon snack. However we all thought the sauce would have been amazing on ribs or anything that gets grilled, not fruit! Unless you grilled the fruit. That will be a thing. Grilled sweet and sour pineapple on a burger. Make a mental note of that! It was so simple as well, tamarind, palm sugar, chilli, and salt, its on the must make list!!

Here are some pics, they explain better than my words!

The food was great, my favourite was the lawar, it had great flavour, something different from a normal salad type dish that had the heartiness of meat with the light touch of fresh coconut and salad. Obviously the corn fritters were also great - its deep fried, so it goes without saying really! 

If you're in Bali I can recommend taking a trip out to Ubud to participate in one of these classes. They're fun, informative, and you get a belly full of delicious food at the end of it! 

Bali travels #1 - Ubud!

I'm home! Finally. I've been away for about 3 weeks and it's great to be home. I love travelling and I had a great time, but I'm stoked to be home to get back into a routine and home cooking again!

I'm not going to waffle on about the trip to Bali, I'll just let the photos do the talking!

We booked into Mozaic, Ubud for Christmas evening. We wanted to do something special, and this was it! It was a decadent meal full of fois gras (which I don't eat, but some do!), truffles and lobster. It was a lovely evening.

Ubud is a fabulous place to eat and we found some real gems. Naughty Nuri's Warung made some amazing ribs and chicken on a gnarly old grill. We ate there twice, and ate A LOT! They have a menu on the wall and that is it - if you ask for a menu, they just point to the wall. Don't go expecting amazing service, but DO go expecting awesome grilled stuff. We didn't bother ordering anything from the kitchen, we got our fill from the grill! Anthony Bourdain has been here and decided that the martinis are the best he's had outside of NYC. We tried one, they are ROCKET FUEL! I felt hammered after one. 

Ubud is also home to an amazing coffee house called Senimen - they have a massive range of coffee, and scientific methods of getting it from bean to cup! It's a fabulous brew. You can't miss this place if you enjoy coffee!! We had an iced latte on trip, and then an iced coffee the next time. Iced coffee is just that - cold coffee. They used the Sumatra Gayo Mountain beans, and it was gorgeous. There was so much more to it than it just being a cold black coffee. Try it.

Another spot to visit in Ubud is Ibu Oka, the warung made famous for its babi guling aka sucking pig. It came in a variety of forms, all tasty. We sat on the floor, ate pork, drank beer. It was good. A little tough, but the flavour was great. We'd eaten babi guling somewhere else previously and this was MUCH better, so the rumours are true.

Ubud is definitely a place for the food lover. Read up on where you'd like to go and go find them, if the word is out about them, it's likely that its worth the search.

Next post?

Casa Luna Cooking School.