The First Sake From Africa?

In recent years sake breweries have popped up across the globe. No longer restricted to the confines of Japan, people are being introduced to sake brewed across almost every continent. Now, in Kampala, Uganda the seeds of the first African sake are being sown…

Hanif Rehemtulla, restaurateur of Yujo Izakaya, a well-known Japanese restaurant/bar in an upmarket area of Kampala, has been a fan of sake for some time. Having read about sake being brewed outside Japan he started to think about the possibility of brewing it too.

Previously, the restaurant had collaborated with a Japanese rice researcher at JICA Uganda, a government funded research institute, to grow Japanese rice on Ugandan farms, with growers supplying the restaurant with Koshihikari and Mochi rice for their dishes. He then tried to think about how Ugandan rice-growers might be able to improve their quality of life and earn a steady income if there were more of a market for this rice.

During a cultural event, the Japanese ambassador to Uganda at the time mentioned “how wonderful it would be to sip on some sake brewed in Uganda, perhaps even from rice grown within the country.” From that point Hanif was “itching to find sake brewed outside of Japan and see if there was any possibility to give this a shot!”. It would be exciting to have fresher sake available to serve to customers, plus if they trained up Ugandans to brew the sake, it could create much-needed local jobs.

After discovering how complicated brewing sake is, and how many Japanese breweries were closing, he was doubtful. But shipping sake across the world (particularly in the current climate crisis) didn’t make sense when there was “rice, Japanese rice even, right here growing a few kilometres away.” It should also make sake more affordable as, due to the way goods are taxed in Uganda: “a decent chunk of the final cost is due to excise and import levies, the latter of which would be cut to zero if the sake was brewed within the borders of the country.” Sake is used so much in Japanese cooking, this would in turn enable costs to be cut for local businesses who make Japanese food.

As this idea grew, Hanif started to read avidly about sake from all over the world. Spotting fellow Canadian compatriot and experienced sake brewer, Brock Bennett on Twitter, he got in touch. Brock was the ideal person to discuss this with, having solid experience in brewing sake both in Japan (interning under the skilled leadership of Yasutaka Daimon, at Daimon Shuzo in Osaka prefecture,  later as a Kurabito at the award-winning Tosa Brewing Company in Kochi prefecture brewing the Keigetsu brand) and outside Japan (a “brief stint” at Artisan SakeMaker in Canada and nearly 8 years as Sake Brewer at Europe’s first sake brewery,  Nøgne Ø Craft Brewery in Norway). What followed was a 2 year back and forth correspondence culminating in the two collaborating to attempt to make a batch of sake using Ugandan-grown rice.

Brock had been experimenting making sake with various types of table rice from Vietnam, Italy and Greece with some success. After much discussion, Hanif and Brock decided not to use the Ugandan-grown Japonica rice. Instead, they opted for the more easily available, long-grain Ugandan ‘Super Rice’ which looked as if it had potential with its low protein and good amylopectin content. The rice couldn’t be polished down as sake rice generally is because the rice polishing machines used in Japan are expensive. Ugandan rice whitening machines are used to remove the very outer parts of the rice  to turn it from brown to white, but are not able to polish the rice down further.

This choice made brewing tricky, as Brock explains: “its polishing rate (seimaibuai) was around 90%. Almost all the rice I brewed with professionally was under 70%. Rice with a high seimaibuai doesn’t tend to absorb water well, so it’s difficult to get a well-steamed rice with good starch conversion. Less-polished rice also has much higher levels of proteins, fats, and minerals which tend to cause rough flavours and aromas.” So, Brock put a lot of thought into how to maintain the fresh floral and fruity flavours.

Brock and Hanif came up with a complicated plan to brew an initial batch of sake in Norway, using equipment Brock had access to, with Ugandan rice brought over by a friend of Hanif’s, to see if it could work. These sakes were later transported back to Kampala by Hanif’s wife and tasted by a panel of experts familiar with the local market.

I hadn’t known what to expect when I tried the sake, but the results were impressive and certainly a cut above the samples I have tried previously when breweries have been starting out. This probably shouldn’t have been a surprise when you consider Brock’s comparative experience, including using experimental techniques and having to think outside the box, having brewed sake without the equipment available in Japan.

The sakes were all unpasteurised (namazake) to maintain their fruity, fresh character, with high acidity, quite bold flavours and a deep colour. Brock made namazake, nigorizake and sparkling sake, but the standout was a Genshu namazake. Its tropical fruit flavours and relatively high alcohol percentage are likely to appeal to the local, middle class Ugandan market who generally prefer sweeter styles of drink, with higher alcohol being perceived as better value for money.

So what next? The plan is to, hopefully, continue experimenting, making batches of sake using Ugandan Super Rice, sticking to the styles already made, focusing on maintaining the fresh tastes and aromas.

There are potential issues with making the sake in Uganda, as Hanif acknowledges: “It’s quite hot in Kampala (sake is generally brewed at low temperatures), but we have some ideas on a subterranean brew space and the possibility of setting up somewhere with a higher altitude and better water. Reliable electricity is generally an issue both inside the city and out, so we’d need a standby generator or a bunch of solar panels using the sun’s energy to keep things cool in the brew space.”

Hanif’s enthusiasm is infectious, but he’s not naive: “I think it would be fun to take this to the next stage, though I think patience and caution are key given the current global economic environment.” The idea is to start small, “tiny”. But there seems to be a real potential market “I see a couple of immediate opportunities in terms of clientele: restaurants to use in their kitchens for sauces and as table sake. This lower cost option could drive the use of sake in East Africa and get people in the region to know the taste and what it goes well with. The next would be to bottle the delicate creations and also offer unpasteurised sake on tap, within the restaurant so people can really experience the incredible aromas and true flavours of sake, as it is meant to be.”

Who knows what the future holds for sake brewing in Uganda? But I, for one, intend to be at the front of the queue to buy a bottle should Hanif and Brock’s dream of making Ugandan sake come true.

Tasting of the Ugandan rice sake at Yamasen, Kampala. Photo Credit: Muhammad Ali Kanch (kanchuwithacamera on Instagram and Facebook)

Winter Sake Drinking

Winter Season Sake Drinking:

Whether you drink sake warm, or cold, fresh off the press, to forget the old or to celebrate the new year, sake really comes into its own in the winter months.

 Warming Sake

Sake can be drunk at any temperature you like at any time of year, it’s all down to personal preference.  In the summer, chilled, lighter styles of sake can be really refreshing and tend to work well with lighter, summery, often cold foods. But the heavier, often fattier, hot dishes of winter can pair particularly well with warmed sake, the heat of the sake cutting through fat, the rounder flavours pairing well with the often stronger, earthier flavours of winter food. Even without food, with the chill of winter, there’s nothing quite like a warm cup of sake to keep out the cold, and warm you to the bones.

There’s an art to warming each sake to the perfect temperature and really understanding how to do this well. Different sakes taste different at different temperatures, so there isn’t a one size fits all answer to what the best temperature is to heat sake to. There are a range of temperatures at which sake can be served at with evocative names like yuki-hie (snow cold) and ‘Hinata-kan (sunlight warmed). The best way to work out at what temperature to serve a sake is to check the label for advice, or ask a sommelier, and then experiment for yourself to work out your own preferences.

Seasonal Sake

Japan has particularly beautiful seasons, and it is a uniquely Japanese tradition to enjoy sake while admiring the beauty of these changing seasons. In the spring, Hanami –  admiring the fragile beauty of cherry blossom flowers in full bloom, is enjoyed. Hanamizake – is sake drunk often with a picnic, with friends, family and colleagues under the cherry blossom trees. The tradition is said to originate from farmers, whose work started in the springtime. They saw the cherry blossoms as a mark of the mountain gods and offered food and drink to them in the hope of a fruitful year ahead.

In the autumn, the full harvest moon hangs heavily in the sky, casting a warm orange glow.

Tsukimizake, is sake drunk by the light of, and while admiring the moon –this apparently originating from the custom of farmers offering produce and sake to the gods to thank them for a bountiful harvest.

In the winter, Yukimizake is enjoyed, this is sake drunk while enjoying the beauty of the snow. This can involve staying warm inside, watching the snow fall or surveying the snowy landscape through a window. Although a far more decadent way to enjoy yukimizake is to sip sake while soaking in a traditional open air onsen (hot spring), surrounded by a snowy landscape, as the snow gently falls around you. Some places actually sell sake, served on a tray which floats in the onsen.

 Sake also plays an important part in the New Year celebrations. New Year (O-Shogatsu) is the biggest national holiday in Japan, and celebrated in January, in the middle of winter. As part of the celebrations, sake is enjoyed at bonenkai parties. These are parties-where the idea is that you forget the worries and problems of the past year and put them behind you). Once the New Year has arrived, sake is drunk at shinnenkai parties to ward off bad fortune and bring good tidings in the year to come.

On New Year’s Day itself, O-toso sake is traditionally drunk. Otoso is prepared by steeping a mixture of herbs and spices in sake overnight. The spices usually include cinnamon, citrus peel and sansho (Japanese pepper) and are contained in something similar to a tea bag (historically triangular in shape). Recipes vary, with different people using different blends of spices, and types of sake, but mirin, a sweet sake often used in cooking is often used as it combines well, the sweetness counteracting the bitterness of the herbs and spices.  

O-toso is drunk in a ceremonial way, early on the morning of New Year’s Day, by everyone living in the house. Traditionally, it’s poured from a special lacquerware teapot into three lacquered cups which fit inside each other and are drunk from in order, from the smallest to largest. It’s drunk in turn by family members, in order from the youngest to the eldest, to pass vitality on from the younger people to their elders. It’s also drunk to ward off illness and bring harmony to the family in the coming year. If one member of the family drinks Otoso, it’s said the whole family will remain illness-free for the year, but if everyone in an entire family drinks it, the whole village with be free from illness for the year. Visiting guests are also traditionally offered a glass of o-toso.

Although this ceremony isn’t as commonly practiced today as it has been in the past, it is still practised by some, and Otoso lacquerware pots and cup sets are sometimes kept as heirlooms, passed down the family in the same way a silver tea-set, brought out only at Christmas might be by a British family.

Winter Brewing:

Sake has an intrinsic relationship to the winter. The sake brewing season traditionally starts on October 1st, once the colder weather begins to set in.  Colder temperatures create better conditions for brewing sake. Fermentation creates a lot of heat and the colder air cools down the process naturally, (some breweries actually using snow to naturally cool down their breweries).

Visit a sake brewery during the winter months and you will see a hive of activity as the brewers go about their business.

The first couple of months are when the lower grades of of sake are generally made. This is in part due to the brewers getting used to this year’s rice (just as with grapes, different vintages (or harvests) of rice are of different quality, and content, so will ferment differently, creating varied flavour profiles. So the brewers want to make themselves familiar with how that year’s harvest of rice will act during fermentation before making their best quality sake.  According to Philip Harper, a British toji, or master brewer in Japan, the first few batches involve a lot of guesswork, so being able to use larger additions of brewer’s alcohol, as is allowed when making lower grades of sake, enables the brewer to mask characteristics relating to the rice if necessary.

January and February is the peak time for making the most refined styles, daiginjo and ginjo. Colder temperatures mean more controllable brewing conditions (particularly important when making the higher grades which are often hand-made, whilst lower grades are generally made by a more automated process).

Premium styles of sake are also brewed more slowly and at lower temperatures (cold temperatures make the yeast act more slowly, creating more attractive aromas). The traditional brewing season usually ends around late March or early April as temperatures creep up.

Traditionally sake brewery workers or kurabito worked seasonally, working in the breweries during the colder months from October to April. The breweries closing down from late Spring, through the hot summer months to September, when the crops are picked.

Kurabito historically worked seasonally, farming back home, often growing and harvesting rice, or other crops during the warmer months, and working in the breweries during the colder months when they had no other work to do.

They often travelled quite a distance, leaving their families behind to work in all-male teams from October to April. The hours were (and generally still are) long, the conditions often very cold, and the work hard, sake being checked on through the night to ensure the fermentation was going to plan, each stage being adjusted at the right time.

These days some of the more traditional breweries still work in this way (the brewery workers working seasonally, leaving their families for the brewing season and returning only when it is finished), but there has been a shift, due in part to the difficulty in finding younger workers who are prepared to work in this way, when there are other easier jobs they could take with more sociable hours.

Sake fresh from the press

One of the most incredible experiences of visiting breweries in the winter is enjoying sake fresh off the press, literally scooped up and taken straight off from where it has run off from pressing. This new sake is called Shibori-tate or Shinshu and can also be bought outside of the brewery. It’s usually unpasteurised, and has a very distinct flavour. It is fresh and lively, wild and fruity with young, unripe aromas.  Sometimes described as the Beaujolais Nouveau of sake, it is similarly released before it’s had time to properly take shape. Sake is generally matured for at least 6 months which mellows out the flavours that settle in time, so this style of sake, has had no chance to mature, yet is still delicious!

For an Otoso (spiced sake) recipe see here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-new-year/

This article is adapted from a talk I originally gave in collaboration with UKiYO Republic, and Enshu, for an exhibition of Tiger Tanuki's Japanese Winter Scene Prints at Sway Gallery, London.

The print below is from Tiger Tanuki's collection, please see their website here: 

Masao Ido (1945-2016): Lasting capital, 2000

Throwing a Sake Party

World Sake Day (October 1st) is fast approaching and I’m sure most sake fans have picked out a special bottle or 2 to share, but how can you really celebrate sake in all its glory? Here are some ideas for throwing a sake party:

Sake cups:

Part of the fun of drinking sake is enjoying Japanese sake drinking culture. It’s up to you how you serve it - cold, or warm, in traditional Japanese ‘ochoko’ sake cups or wine glasses.

If you have a collection of sake cups you’ve been building up over the years like me, take this as an opportunity to share them: pass around a tray of different styles of cup so your friends can choose their own. I usually put cups of a variety of shapes, sizes and materials including a traditional masu (box-shaped, cedar-wood sake cup), kikichoko (sake tasting cups containing a blue, bulls-eye design), as well as glass, metal, and ceramic cups. People love to choose their own and hear a little about what makes their cup unique.

Drinking Games:

Japan has a strong, sociable drinking culture, and drinking games are not reserved for students. Forget sake bombs, here are a couple of more sophisticated, traditional drinking games to play:

Bekuhai are sake cups used in a traditional drinking game originating from Kochi, a prefecture famous for its stunning sake and drinking culture. Some of the cups are cunningly designed so that they cannot be put down until they are empty.

Each cup has a face on the underside. The cups are shaped like a Japanese goblin (tengu), male ‘funny face’ (hyottoko) and female ‘funny face’ (okame). The Japanese goblin cup holds the most sake due to its long nose, which also means you cannot put it down until all the sake is drunk, the male cup has a hole in its mouth which you have to hold your finger over to stop the sake running out, whilst the female cup holds the least amount of sake and can be put down.

A special dice, with pictures of the faces on each side is spun , while everyone claps and sings the Berobero song, to decide which cup must be drunk from.

Tosa Bekuhai Set containing all 3 cups and dice available from House of Sake: https://www.houseofsake.co.uk/product/beku-hai-set/ See here for a video of the game being played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsbi-j0pHxU

Kikunohana: is a game in which cups are placed upside down (one for each player of the game) and a chrysanthemum hidden under one by the first player. The tray is passed around in a circle as a song is sung, everyone taking turns to turn over the cups until someone uncovers the chrysanthemum. Each empty, upturned  cup is then filled with sake, and the finder of the chrysanthemum must drink them all!

Sake and Food Pairing:

Sake works brilliantly with Japanese food, but is generally very food friendly, boosting the flavour of foods, so take the opportunity to experiment! Most on and offline shops that sell sake will be keen to give you advice on both Japanese and non-Japanese foods to pair with specific sakes, so do ask or look out for suggestions in their tasting notes! Foods which often work well with sake include cheese, chocolate, and seafood.

For further tips on food and sake matching see my article for Foodepedia here: http://www.foodepedia.co.uk/articles/2015/nov/food_and_sake_pairing.htm

Use Sake as an Ingredient:

Sake: is used as an ingredient in lots of Japanese recipes, where it helps to boost flavours. More recently, people have been experimenting using sake as an ingredient in non-Japanese dishes. 

For further tips on using sake in cooking, see my article for Foodepedia here: http://www.foodepedia.co.uk/articles/2016/dec/Cooking_with_Sake.htm . Sake brewery, Gekkeikan, has also put together this useful ‘Sake Cookbook’: http://www.gekkeikan-sake.com/?method=pages.showPage&PageID=2e511a10-2264-112b-b13a-9350f3d24b82&originalMarketingURL=Sake-101/Food-Recipes

Sake Kasu (or lees, the solid leftovers from the sake-making process), can be used as a marinade, tenderising meat with a seemingly magical effect, creating melt-in-the-mouth, flavourful meat.

Marinate meat in sake kasu for a day or 2 in the fridge. Some meats, like pork, also acquire a slight cured-meat flavour. You can buy it widely in Japan, elsewhere it can be found in some Japanese supermarkets. Sake breweries also sometimes sell it directly from the brewery, so it’s worth enquiring if you have one locally.

Sake Sauce: If you’re not sure about cooking with sake yourself, why not use some sake-infused sauce? London’s first sake brewery, Kanpai have teamed up with fellow Peckham-based Slow Richie’s to create a Roasted Chilli, Horseradish and Kanpai Sake Sauce. Recommended in a Bloody Mary or bacon sandwich. Available from Hop, Burns and Black: https://shop.hopburnsblack.co.uk/products/slowrichiesroastedchillihorseradishkanpaisakesauce125ml

Sake chocolates: Sake and chocolate can be an incredible food match, Prestat, London-based fine chocolatiers’ (by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen no less!) Yuzu Sake Truffles are divine! Dark chocolate truffles dusted with yuzu powder, with zesty yuzu-infused sake centres, they make a great gift to take along to a sake party, or to finish off a meal. Available from various retailers including Selfridges, Liberty, Amazon and Prestat:  http://www.prestat.co.uk/shop/yuzu-sake-truffles-175g.html

KitKat also make a rare, and limited edition Sake KitKat in Japan, which is made with white chocolate and has an alcohol content of 0.8%. Buy one if you can track one down! As I write, they are available Tofucute: https://www.tofucute.com//product_info.php?products_id=2649  and usually from the Japan Centre.

Valentine's Gifts for Sake Lovers

Valentine’s Day is celebrated a little differently in Japan. On February 14th, women give gifts to men. These gifts don’t always signify romance, many are obligatory gifts given to fathers, bosses and colleagues, or to male friends. There are also those given to lovers, husbands and boyfriends. But this is all a bit one way isn’t it?!

Well, a month later on March 14th, White Day is celebrated. Men are obligated to give gifts to those who gave to them, only the value of those gifts is meant to be triple that of the gift they were given. So men don’t do nearly as well as it might have appeared! Gifts are traditionally white and are often confectionary of some kind.

So what to give the sake lover in your life for Valentine’s Day? Here are a few suggestions:

The sake with a love story:

"Ryu No Namida" Junmai Ginjo: An elegant and smooth Junmai Ginjo, Ryo no Namida translates as “Dragon’s Tears”. The story behind this sake’s name is sad, but undeniably romantic. A mountain-dwelling dragon fell in love with a beautiful maiden he saw walking on the beach each day. Every evening he would come down onto the beach and lie in the shadow of her footprints and weep because he knew she would never see him. As his tears fell, they turned into pearls of love which he left on the beach for her to find as a gift to show his love for her. She found the dragon’s tears and collected them up, making them into a pearl necklace which she wore. The dragon looked down on her and smiled, his love making the pearls shine, reflecting her beauty. Available from Sushi & Robate at Genji and Wholefoods Market, High Street Kensington.

Pink Sakes:

"Amabuki Rose" Junmai:This sake has an unusual light pink hue (from the rice it is made from) and berry notes. It has also been brewed using yeasts from roses, so perfect for Valentine’s Day! Great with seafood. Available from Ueno Gourmet and Nanban, Brixton.

Homare Strawberry Nigori Sake Liqueur: Made from starwberries steeped in Nigori (white, cloudy unfiltered sake containing rice sediment from the brewing process). This beautifully reddy-pink, sweet/sour, creamy textured sake is unusual, yet easy-drinking enough to be a safe choice for both sake geeks and those new to sake. Skip dessert and have this instead! Available from The Japan Centre

Champagne-style Sake:

"Pearl" Sparkling Junmai Daiginjo Nigori: Made by the Champagne Method (with a second fermentation in the bottle) this is a fine example of sparkling sake. It’s more sophisticated than the popular sour-sweet styles of sparkling sake, with distinct sake flavours. Medium sweet, lightly cloudy (due to a light rice sediment), this has apple, pear and peach notes. Available from Tengusake.com.

With Valentine's Dinner oysters and seafood:

Urakasumi "Zen" Junmai Ginjo: This sake hails from highly respected Urakasumi Brewery, located in Shiogama, a town in Miyagi famed for its sushi and seafood. It pairs up beautifully with oysters and the local seafood it has historically been drunk with. Available from Hedonism and 31Dover.com

With Valentine chocolates or as a digestif:

Kijyo Daikoshu Furudokei Kijyoshu blended 72/73/74: A complex, aged sake with bitter coffee and chocolate notes. This matches well with dark chocolate tarts, fondues and other puddings.  This is the one to get if you are really pushing the boat out. A versatile, food-friendly sake, it also matches up well with meat, game, foie gras and venison for those without a sweet tooth. Available from Vagabond Wines, Charlotte Street

Sake Kit Kats: Sake and chocolate makes an excellent match, so alongside other typically Japanese flavours like matcha (green tea), wasabi and red bean, there’s a sake-infused Kit Kat! Perfect as a gift for White Day! Available from The Japan Centre

Halloween Sake Cocktails (October 30th 2015)

Sake cocktails can work brilliantly for Halloween, especially if you accompany them with Halloween themed food and a classic Japanese horror film (click here for some recommendations with trailers from 'Gaijin Pot' to whet your appetite).

Find below simple, but visually appealing sake cocktails, click here for ingenious Halloween cocktail garnish ideas from 'about food'  and a couple of Japanese-style Halloween recipes:

Frog Spawn Sake Punch:

1 part umeshu (sweet plum infused sake)

3 parts tonic water

1 can basil seed drink, juice strained off to leave basil seeds (Available from China Town and Thai supermarkets)

Plastic frog

Ice

Add a handful of ice to a large punch bowl. Pour over umeshu and water. Stir. Gently pour over strained basil seeds for frog-spawn affect and place frog on top. Serve with a ladle.

Bloody Geisha

1 part sake

2 parts tomato Juice

Squeeze of lemon juice

Dash of Tabasco sauce or Wasabi

Dash of Worcestershire Sauce

Ice

Add 2 cubes of ice to a glass and pour over the sake, add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.

*Sake works particularly well to boost the umami flavours in this recipe.

Blood-dripping Yuzushu Spritzer:

1 part yuzushu juice (Japanese yuzu-citrus fruit infused sake)

3 parts tonic water/soda water

Grenadine

Ice

Add ice to glass, pour in yuzushu and tonic. Stir. Drizzle grenadine on top for a blood-dripping effect.

Halloween Food Recipes:

Pumpkin Head Sushi:

Click here for the Japan Centre, London's  great Halloween themed sushi recipe. 

Witch’s Cauldron Natto Spaghetti:

Top black squid ink spaghetti with natto (Japanese fermented soy beans) for a spooky, healthy treat. Natto is very sticky lending it a slimy appearance-very effective when combined with black spaghetti. Simply swap the plain pasta, for black in The Japan Centre’s recipe here. 

Please share below any more Halloween sake cocktail, or Japanese food recipes you have!

Sake & Spice: Matching Sake with Indian Cuisine (October 28th 2015)

To celebrate their 10th Anniversary, Moti Mahal, an Indian restaurant in the heart of Covent Garden, London, has organised a series of dinners matching different drinks to Indian cuisine.  Spiced food can be particularly difficult to match with due to hot spices and strong flavours dominating the more subtle flavours in most drinks.

In the U.K, due to our historical links to India, Indian curry reins supreme when it comes to spicy food. Lager is the most common accompaniment, acting as a refreshing palate cleanser. Some people also match spicy, full flavoured wines such as Gewürztraminer or Shiraz which make a decent attempt to stand up to the spice.

Sake isn’t generally found on Indian restaurant’s menus and isn’t an obvious choice, after all sake goes well with delicately flavoured Japanese cuisine, which rarely has any spicy flavours, right? Well, Moti Mahal experimented matching sake with Indian cuisine, and found this unlikely pair actually work incredibly well together.

This isn’t such a bizarre finding really. If you think about it, whilst most drinks struggle to stand up to hot wasabi, sake works brilliantly, so surely it should work in a similar way with other hot spices? There are also plenty of sakes which are opulently aromatic and therefore match up well to spicy foods which have many layers of flavours. Sake also traditionally acts as a refreshing palate cleanser, exactly what you want when you’re eating spicy foods!

The matches which most impressed me paired up Daiginjos (Kimura Fukukomachi Junmai Daiginjo and Daiginjo) generally the most aromatic style of sake, with a lightly spiced, beetroot and peanut salad, with stuffed peppers, minted potatoes and green peas, and a more spicy lamb chop dish with caraway seed, Kashmiri chillies, mooli raita and avocado chutney. The interplay of the opulent aromatics of the sake’s fruity melon and lightly aniseed notes and those of the spiced dishes worked really well. The umami boosting qualities of the sake shone through when combined with the earthy, smoky flavours of the tandoori-cooked lamb, and the slight sweetness of the sake also contrasted beautifully with the saltiness of the lamb, finally refreshing the palate at the end.

A namazake (Tengusake’s Gozenshu 9 “Mountain Stream” Junmai Nama Bodaimoto, one of my favourite and most food-friendly of sakes) also worked well with spiced red mullet cooked with basmati rice and raita. Unlike most sake, namazake is unpasteurised,  lending it a zingy character that’s hard to describe but matches up well to dairy products like cheese. The creamy yoghurt notes worked really well with the lively nama flavours adding another dimension.

All in all, I was really impressed. It may not be an obvious match, but sake does work well with curry. I’ll continue to experiment with different styles in the future…..