HYDERABAD: Festive mood is still on in the city. That’s how at Okra, Hyderabad Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre you can still relish the traditional Onam Sadhya from the home recipes of chef Susan Arun who learnt the same from her mother and grandmother. A vibrant connoisseur of food she uses balanced method of adding spices to the curries and chutneys that one can relish with appams and brown rice. The interesting part is that she hails from the community of Suriani Christians in Kerala.
The Surianis hint that their ancestry to the families said to have been is by Jesus’ apostle St Thomas when he reached the Malabar coast in 52 CE. The people from the community cook the typical Malabar food with the usage of tapioca, jackfruit and shallots. The use was visible in the chef’s table. The welcome drink was a variant of buttermilk with the sharp flavour of crushed shallots. Usually, Onam Sadhya is a typical vegetarian affair but chef Susan added what she learnt.
We tasted the Beef Roast nicely dashed with peppers. Said the chef, “The use of pepper is significant to our cuisine for that hot and spicy flavour.” The Meen Vevichathu, the country style fish that she had prepared. It was red in colour and despite the use of Kashmiri red chillies, the heat quotient was balanced. She had also added kokum to it. The spices had seeped inside the fish pieces tasting delightful when we relished the same with steamed red rice.
The Chicken Stew had mild creamish curry with the sweet hint of coconut milk that doubled up the taste of appam. Quite a contrast to it was Pepper Chicken with ts hot flavour. We tried it with hot Kappa, a tapioca preparation. Kadu manga, the mango pickle was a good accompaniment along with ginger, jaggery and tamarind chutney. We loved the desserts: Ada Pradaman and Pal Payasam prepared with rice, jaggery and fried nuts. The promotion is on till Sept 17. Price per head: `1,600 + taxes