Water snails satay in Bali

Water snails satay, Warung Pan Putu, Denpasar, Bali

Having originated from a deep Sundanese cultural background, I was quite familiar with the water snails cooking. Back there, the snail is called "Tutut", and there's only one way to cook it: in a thin curry with strong galangal and turmeric seasoning.

Moving to Bali, I noticed quite happily that the same food do exist, only the difference is that people here prefers their snails on a skewer, alias as satay. "Kakul" is the name of the food in Bali, and among the pioneer of introducing the Sate Kakul to the Balinese people are Pan Putu (Pan = Mister), and he opens a restaurant which named "Warung Pan Putu" which located at Jl. Ahmad Yani No.187, Denpasar - Bali.

Just like most satay from Indonesia, Sate Kakul too, are served with peanut sauce. However unlike Sate Madura, the sauce is usually thin and not too creamy.

Still considered as Asian water snails, however Tutut or Kakul are different with the apple snails usually consumed in other Asian countries. It is mainly harvested from rice fields, its scientific name is Viviparidae Bellamyinae.

Water snails have this strong metallic and earthy taste, very much like escargot, only that with a chewy and jerky texture unlike the soft escargot; more like shellfish only much tougher. As for the taste itself, it contains only low level of savouriness and lacked strong flavour, hence heavy seasoning is almost always a necessity. (byms)