A popular breakfast dish: Idli, a treat in Ramasseri!

Before the end of last year, I thought about two places I wanted to visit in 2023.

a visit to Thiruvannamalai to feel Ramana Ashram and taste Ramasseri Idli.

I slept off on 31st night with dreams of wonderful events about to happen in the New Year.

I couldn’t have asked anything better, both of those wishes happened together decision was made to travel with my friend Suraj.

I’am one of those people who think about food before any travel, this time, for a change food was the real reason to travel.

If I tell you the story now, I love Idlis, the savoury, steamed rice & lentil cakes, the most common breakfast dish of South India.

Whole world does it the same way but at Ramasseri they offers a completely different style of preparation, it's flat, round and fluffy , a bit like a mini Dosa.

After a never-ending journey to find this sleeping hamlet, we reached one of those three remaining outlets to find our desire come true.

We sat down after a cold reception from the so-called boss. It was a very run down tea shop, and the wall opposite was full of pictures of famous people who visited the place.

We had to wait a little bit, then the star arrived on our plate, so soft and white they looked. It was even hard to count how many fell on my plate.

Shortly accompaniments served in the middle, the runny coconut chutney was feeling fresh, the lentil sambar was steaming hot and the red chilly sauce looked fiery.

I could only remember the first bite, it tasted heavenly with its feathery, velvety texture, an unforgettable sensation as the tongue softly embraced it. We never felt like having Idlis anywhere like this.

We had our stomach full and happiness just like in a dream. We had to thank the people in the kitchen, so we requested permission to enter their workspace.

Kitchen looked simple and clean, we saw a line of women standing together and making these wonderful Ramasseri Idlis, we could see them enjoying a chit chat as they worked.

We asked the girls many of our doubts and eagerly watched the live demonstration of their art. They silently and politely spoke to us.

Finally, we took some pictures, especially the main man who was kind enough to narrate the story of Ramasseri Idlis, sipping delicious tea while we listened to the history.

About 200 years ago, a small group of mudaliar community from Tamilnadu arrived in Kerala to pursue their weaving career, their wives followed them too who happened to be excellent cooks.

The women began cooking these special Idlis for their own folks to start with and then continued commercially due to demand from locals and followed by people from everywhere.

The journey was a bit of a hassle. After we experienced the magic, we were super thrilled about the trip and honestly, I can't wait to go back for more.