One example is the traditional snacks that come in various bright colors, including pink, yellow and orange. They are made in unique shapes that resembling dragons, a tiger’s head and some other surreal shapes. It is quite difficult to make these snacks and not many Balinese do it anymore. For practical reasons, most prefer to buy them.
The dough, made of rice flour, is boiled until it had a clay-like texture. Then colorants were added to the dough and it was formed into a variety of shapes. After all the dough is colored and shaped, then it is fried. Surprisingly, this process does not fade the colors. The fried snacks can last for several days. It takes less than 30 minutes to complete the entire process.
These sacred snacks are one of the mandatory parts of the paraphernalia required by Hindu people every time they hold a religious ceremony, unlike Gebogan (fruit offerings usually carried on the head), which are optional.
In every ceremony, there should be at least 21 kinds of snacks. Nowadays, however, most Balinese women can only make three kinds.