This summer I travelled to some amazing wineries. The obvious mecca of “Napa Valley” was on my list, but this time I want to talk about a series of wineries that I went to in Canada. About an hour from the famed Niagara falls, the Ontario wine trail in the state of Niagara was a revelation. Somehow even to an amateurish wine lover like me, Canada didn’t seem like a destination to associate fine wines with. But I was pleasantly surprised. I visited about 3 wineries there, and tasted different kinds of wines.

I also learnt there that since the temperature of the region is comparable to areas around the south of Burgundy in France and Tuscany in Italy, which is temperate compared to the other warmer climes where many kinds of grapes grow. Wine from grapes grown in  these relatively colder regions have more intense and complex flavours. I was very eager to taste some of my favourite wines to check if this indeed was true.

The Pinot Noirs and the Chardonnays were really not that great, but I have to mention two specific wines that I think were spectacular. They were the Reisling dry and the famed “Icewine”. The Reisling was very light and very dry with just a hint of sweetness. It was perfect as a day wine and I loved every sip. The Icewine, which is a dessert wine was very sweet and fruity- not something I usually like, but with a piece of cinnamon bread or warm apple strudel, it was spectacular. Ice wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing a more concentrated grape to be pressed, resulting in a smaller amount of more concentrated, very sweet wine. I don’t think I would enjoy too much of the Ice wine, but it was different and after the mild Reisling, it made for a stark and exciting contrast.

Last weekend was Onam. One festival that is celebrates across religions and castes in Kerala, a state in the southermost part of India- also called “God’s own country (also happens to be mine!!), making it rather unique in the fractured but yet “together” society that we have in India. But just as all other festivals in India, it revolves around food! In fact the high point of this festival to celebrate bounty is the “Ona Sadya”, which means the festival meal, or feast prepared on the day of Onam. We used to eat the Ona Sadya every year when we were kids, but I don’t have a particular recollection of my mum making a sadya at home. We usually used to feast as part of a community event, and get together with other fellow Malayalis and have a sumptuous meal, outsourced to efficient and extraordinarily gifted cooks in the community. So, while I knew vaguely the various ingredients that went into a grand meal, I had very little idea (and this was a few years ago) as to what went into their making.

About 10 years ago, when the cooking bug caught me big time, was the time when I started to actively take interest in traditional cooking. The net was my biggest source of inspiration and during my research when I learnt everything from baking tarts to making exotic payasams to biryani. I also, very interestingly learnt that there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ Ona Sadya! Well, it’s true. From north to south end of Kerala, the items, ingredients and basic character of Ona Sadya differs drastically. The Sadya differs from region to region, from caste to caste. And, it has transformed radically down the years. The typical ‘Sadya’ or feast of Kerala took its origins from the kovilakams (palaces of the Kerala rulers), and at the illams (households of Namboothiris, a Brahmin community of Kerala). The cooks at most of the palaces, had belonged to the Tamil Brahmin community, who were an integral part of Kerala’s society for centuries, primarily having migrated as royal cooks and thereafter took to teaching in a big way. These royal cooks developed the strict vegetarian cuisine followed in the kovilakams, introducing many flavours from their own country across the Western Ghats. It is said that avial, celebrated as one of the hallmarks of Kerala cuisine, was invented by these cooks. Similarly, sambar and rasam, the quintessential Tamil dishes, were introduced into Kerala by them. I was very intrigued to note that even till the early decades of 20th century, ingredients like sambar, or rasam that are considered an integral part of traditional Keralite diet, were not a part of the Ona sadya . The basic dishes for the sadya originally came in multiples of four. ‘Chathur vibhavangal,’ four dishes, which were kalan, olan, erisseri and, madhurakkari, or the sweet dish. It must have meant, the payasam. Kalan, olan and erisseri remain the fundamental basics of any traditional sadya in Kerala. Then, the ‘uppilittathu’ which literally means, ‘those pickled in salt.’ ! They were mango, lime, then, puliyinchi and inchithayiru (also called inchi pachidi). Puliyinchi is the special dish made in central Kerala for Onam. Large quantities of tamarind pulp and jaggery are boiled in stone vessels over low flames for hours. Chopped green chillies and ginger are added to the boiling mixture. Finally, once its done, seasoned with mustard, fenugreek, curry leaves and more chopped green chillies and ginger. This can be stored for long. Inchithayiru (ginger in curd), is literally that. Chopped and slightly crushed ginger and green chillies added to beaten curds. And, salt, of course. This was a great digestive to cope with the over-eating that is bound to happen with feasting!
The fried items are the next. Besides pappadam, Ona Sadya should have banana chips. Both plain chips and sarkkara upperi.

Nobody in Thrissur district (broadly where my ancestors belong!!!) can think of an Ona Sadya without the ‘Pazham nurukku,’ or boiled / steamed bananas. Not just your average variety, but the fantastic tasting ‘nenthrakkaya,’ specially cultivated for the season.

 So, I spent the last weekend, making a lavish Ona Sadya, complete with Erisseri, Vella payasam (made with rice and jaggery), avail, pachidi, etc. I had to make some deviations from the traditional dishes to appeal to the less adventurous palate of some members of my extended family who joined us for the meal. For eg., I had to substitute the traditional red parboiled rice with ‘basmati rice’, and make it in the rice cooker as opposed to the traditional way of boiling it in water and draining the extra water (I do love the way that awesome rice smells, but have to leave that to some other occasion!!).

I am sure King Mahabali , in whose honour the festival is celebrated, would have been a pleased man at my place that Sunday!

My tryst with wines started really about 3 years back. I have always been a cocktail lover, though occasional port wines whenever we went on our annual pilgrimages to Goa were the norm. It started with a trip to Brussels actually. I was on work- and it was my first real travel into continental Europe- as transit in insipid airports like Frankfurt and Amsterdam (OK that’s not so insipid!)- don’t really count.
I reached a good 8 hrs ahead of my work schedule and instead of getting ensconced in the (really nice) hotel room, I decided to explore the city. I must have walked around for a few hours, taking in the remarkable combination of the old and new that the gorgeous city ahs been able to preserve, when I reached the city centre and decided to take a food break. I have to mention that apart from the fantastic artist studios where one gets to see real painters in action, the one thing that I find totally charming about Brussels are that the small but extremely well laid-out tables, complete with starched white table linen, shining wine glasses and fresh flowers, outside every eatery- big or small.
And when I did decide to take the food break, I simply had to do justice to the cutlery and fine crystal that was laid out at this really small eatery in the city centre!
Since I had been never into ordering or enjoying wines much, I asked the gorgeous man who arrived on the scene to serve me to do the honours. In his broken English, he tried to explain the fine wines on the very ordinary looking, laminated menu card, and I decided to just go with his recommendation, which was a Pinot Blanc, a dry, crisp wine, which wasn’t sweet at all. A far cry from the very sweet ports that I was used to. But the taste grew on me and  I realized soon that a glass of fine wine with fruit, nuts and cheese invigorates camaraderie, even if one is traveling by oneself!!!!